Ben Hilfenhaus took a career-best five for 33 as Australia cruised to an emphatic 110-run victory over India in match seven of the Tri-Series in Brisbane on Sunday.

The tourists endured an all-round nightmare outing as their lackluster bowling and fielding allowed Australia to post a massive 288 for five before they were skittled out for a paltry 178 in reply, affording the hosts a bonus-point victory.

Dropping three catches, conceding a dozen wides and taking a full four hours to complete their 50 overs, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men were at the mercy of their own inadequacies across Australia's innings.

Matthew Wade and David Warner promised much at the top of the order with 45 and 43 respectively, but ultimately couldn't deliver bigger, leaving Michael Hussey and Peter Forrest to rectify their predecessors' wrongs.

Racking up a half-century each, Hussey and Forrest combined for a 100-run alliance inside just 16 overs. Rohit Sharma, who grassed Wade in the first over of the match, again couldn't hold onto a catch offered to him by the left-handed Hussey at midwicket and later Umesh Yadav spilled the Australian veteran at mid-off.

With the foundation in place, the country's finest finishers - David Hussey and Daniel Christian - tucked into their usual antics. Their unbeaten 65-run alliance at almost 11 runs per over truly took the wind out of the Indians' sails.

Christian was particularly brutal on seamer Vinay Kumar, who instead of limping out of the attack in the wake of a hamstring injury, conceded four boundaries on the trot at the hands of the cavalier right-hander.

India's reponse was a disastrous from the get-go as Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma all failed to get into double figures, leaving India on the back foot on 16 for three after the first six overs.

The resolute Virat Kohli tried his best to get further under the skin of the Aussies when he refused to take the fielder's word after being caught at slip by David Hussey for 12. The replays showed it was a clean catch, but still the feisty batsman was reluctant to make his exit.

Suresh Raina and Dhoni were the only Indian batsmen to show some resistance, but it was hardly a fair fight as neither seemed willing to increase the tempo of the match and allowed spinner Xavier Doherty to bowl out his ten overs for just 29 runs.

With Dhoni in particular just happy to nudge and nurdle the ball for ones and twos, Raina eventually took it upon himself to go for the big shot, but he came unstuck as he edged the ball to wicketkeeper Wade who completed five catches behind the stumps.

It was a lost cause at 82 for five and the wickets of Ravindra Jadeja (18) and Dhoni (58) signaled the inevitable end of India's chances.

It was then left to Irfan Pathan to try and bring some respectability to the score, but it was a task too great for the all-rounder with Hilfenhaus being particularly menacing along with new ball partner Brett Lee who completed ten overs with a return of three for 49.

It was a five-point victory for the hosts who now move back into top spot on 14 points and look likely to book a place in the final.