Andy Murray says he may have to rely on Novak Djokovic suffering a loss of form to claim a first Australian Open title.

Murray has reached the final in Melbourne on four occasions, losing to Djokovic in 2011, 2013 and again last year, making the Briton determined to finally go one better in 2016.

However, he knows his chances may hinge on Djokovic, who brushed aside Rafael Nadal in straight sets to claim the Qatar Open title last week, suffering a loss of form.

The Serbian, who won three of the four grand slams in 2015, has himself hinted an unexpected drop in standards could be his biggest barrier to yet more success.

"It would mean a lot [to win this year], just because of the number of times I've been close," Murray said.

"This is one of my big goals for this year. I've trained hard and tried to get here as early as possible to prepare as best I can. I have had a lot of tough losses here as well and I would love to win this event.

"I would love to try and get to number one, but my number one goal is to try and win here. I've been close many times.

"Last year he [Djokovic] had an incredible year, [reaching the] final of every tournament bar one throughout the year which is extremely difficult to do.

"You just have to keep trying to learn, watch his matches, try and see if there's any weaknesses you can capitalise on. Maybe he has a drop-off, it's very difficult to maintain that level for such a long period.

"I've played some good tennis in them but just not quite managed to get over the final hurdle, but hopefully this year if I keep working hard and keep giving myself opportunities - hopefully one day I'll be able to win."

Murray has put extra effort into his preparations this year and arrived in Australia earlier than usual to adjust to conditions.

"Normally I'm here for two weeks before the Aussie Open, but I [have] been here for three weeks [to] try and help a bit with acclimatisation and get over the jet lag. I was training in Perth last week and it was 43 degrees one day and 40 another day.

"I do work hard and train hard and take that part very seriously because our first tournaments of the year are here, just after the off-season. It gets so hard and to last four hours you need to train hard and prepare well."