To call Australia from overseas, dial the exit code of the country you are in (00 in most of the world, 011 from the US and Canada), then Australia's country code 61, then the Australian number without its first 0. On a mobile you can skip the exit code: press and hold 0 until a + appears, then dial +61 and the number. So the mobile 0412 345 678 becomes +61 412 345 678, and the Sydney landline (02) 9xxx xxxx becomes +61 2 9xxx xxxx.

That one rule covers almost every call. The rest of this guide covers the parts that trip people up: exit codes, the numbers that will not connect from abroad, what a call home really costs, and what time it is back home.

Turning an Australian number into international format

Every Australian landline and mobile number has 10 digits when written for local use, and they all start with 0. That 0 is a trunk prefix used only inside Australia. From overseas you replace it with 61.

Type of number	How Australians write it	How you dial it from overseas
Mobile (any network)	04xx xxx xxx	+61 4xx xxx xxx
NSW and ACT landline (Sydney, Canberra)	(02) xxxx xxxx	+61 2 xxxx xxxx
Victoria and Tasmania landline (Melbourne, Hobart)	(03) xxxx xxxx	+61 3 xxxx xxxx
Queensland landline (Brisbane, Gold Coast)	(07) xxxx xxxx	+61 7 xxxx xxxx
SA, WA and NT landline (Adelaide, Perth, Darwin)	(08) xxxx xxxx	+61 8 xxxx xxxx

Telstra gives the same format on its guide to calling from overseas: enter +61, then the number without the leading 0.

If you save your family's numbers in your phone as +61 4xx xxx xxx before you leave, they work from every country and from inside Australia too. You never have to think about exit codes again.

Exit codes for 12 countries

If you are calling from a landline, a hotel phone or a desk phone that cannot type a +, you need the local exit code. Here is what to dial before 61 in the places Australians most often call home from.

Country you are in	Exit code	What you dial before the number
United States	011	011 61
Canada	011	011 61
United Kingdom	00	00 61
Ireland	00	00 61
Germany	00	00 61
France	00	00 61
New Zealand	00	00 61
India	00	00 61
South Africa	00	00 61
Japan	010	010 61
Hong Kong	001	001 61
Singapore	000 (or a carrier code such as 001)	000 61

A few countries, including South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Brazil, use carrier-specific exit codes. If you are there, use + on a mobile and let the network sort it out.

Numbers that will not work from overseas: 13, 1300 and 1800

This is the part of calling Australia that catches the most people. Many Australian businesses and government services advertise only a 13, 1300 or 1800 number. These are inbound service numbers that are built for callers inside Australia:

1800 numbers are free to call within Australia. From abroad they usually do not connect at all.
13 numbers (six digits, like 13 xx xx) usually cannot be dialled from overseas.
1300 numbers sometimes connect as +61 1300 xxx xxx, but it depends on the business and on the network you are calling from. When they do connect, you pay normal international rates.

Because of this, several government services publish separate numbers for callers overseas. Services Australia, for example, keeps a page of international phone numbers for Centrelink customers. Before you try a 1300 number from abroad, look on the organisation's contact page for a number that starts with +61 2, +61 3 or another regular area code. Our guides to calling 1300 and 1800 numbers from overseas and contacting Centrelink from overseas go through the workarounds in detail.

What a 10-minute call home costs

The price depends on whose network carries the call. There are two common situations: you are an Australian travelling with your own phone, or you live overseas and use a local phone plan.

Travelling on a Telstra plan. Telstra's International Day Pass costs A$5 a day in Zone 1 (New Zealand, Fiji and other Pacific destinations) and A$10 a day in Zone 2 (which includes the US, Canada, the UK, most of Europe, Japan, Singapore and India), as of October 2026. Both include unlimited standard calls and texts and 2GB of data a day. The catch is that the pass is charged on any day your phone uses calls, texts or data, including background data. If you opt out of the Day Pass, Telstra's pay-as-you-go voice rates apply instead, listed at A$2.00 a minute in the UK and A$3.00 a minute in the US (the page does not say whether that is for making or receiving calls). Upfront plan customers cannot use pay-as-you-go.

Living in the UK on EE. EE's standard rate to call Australia is £4.64 a minute to mobiles and landlines, or 21p a minute with its monthly International Pass add-on, as of October 2026 (EE's Australia rates page).

How you make the call	Cost of 10 minutes to an Australian mobile
Telstra phone in Zone 2 with the Day Pass	A$10 for that day (calls and 2GB included)
Telstra phone in New Zealand with the Day Pass	A$5 for that day
Telstra phone in the UK on pay-as-you-go voice	A$20 at Telstra's listed A$2.00 voice rate per minute
UK EE mobile, no add-on	£46.40 at £4.64 a minute
UK EE mobile with International Pass	£2.10 plus the monthly add-on fee
BoraPhone over WiFi	US$1.70 (or US$0.60 to a landline)

If you only need one call, the Day Pass is fair value. If you are calling Australia every week from London or Los Angeles, paying A$10 or £46 each time adds up fast.

BoraPhone works in a web browser, so there is nothing to install and it does not matter which SIM is in your phone. At the time of writing (October 2026), calls to Australia cost US$0.06 a minute to landlines and US$0.17 a minute to mobiles. Billing is per minute, rounded up to the next full minute, and the rate shows before you dial. Your first call is free, failed calls are refunded in full, and you can compare other countries on the full rates list.

What time is it in Australia?

Australia has three main time zones, and only the south-east uses daylight saving (from the first Sunday in October to the first Sunday in April). Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory keep the same time all year. That means Brisbane matches Sydney in July but is an hour behind it in January.

This table shows how far ahead Australia is in a typical January and July.

Where you are	Sydney or Melbourne, January	Sydney or Melbourne, July	Perth, January	Perth, July
London	11 hours ahead	9 hours ahead	8 hours ahead	7 hours ahead
Paris or Berlin	10 hours ahead	8 hours ahead	7 hours ahead	6 hours ahead
New York or Toronto	16 hours ahead	14 hours ahead	13 hours ahead	12 hours ahead
Los Angeles	19 hours ahead	17 hours ahead	16 hours ahead	15 hours ahead
Dubai	7 hours ahead	6 hours ahead	4 hours ahead	4 hours ahead
Singapore	3 hours ahead	2 hours ahead	same time	same time
Tokyo	2 hours ahead	1 hour ahead	1 hour behind	1 hour behind
Auckland	2 hours behind	2 hours behind	5 hours behind	4 hours behind

From Europe, early morning your time is evening in eastern Australia, which is usually the easiest window. From North America, your evening is the next morning in Sydney.

Calling an Australian mobile that is overseas too

A situation unique to calling Australia from abroad: the person you are calling has an Australian mobile, and they are also travelling. You still dial +61 4xx xxx xxx, even if you are both in the same hotel in Bali.

Your call goes to Australia first and then gets routed out to wherever their phone is. You pay an international call to Australia, and they may pay to receive it if they are roaming without a pass. If you are travelling together, a messaging app call over WiFi or a local SIM for one of you is usually the cheaper way to keep in touch.

Hotel phones, local SIMs and WiFi

Hotel room phones often add a connection fee or a high per-minute surcharge to international calls. Ask the front desk for the rate before you dial, and use the exit code table above (plus the hotel's outside-line digit, often 9 or 0).
Local SIM cards give you local rates for calls in the country you are visiting, but calls back to Australia are still international on that SIM. Check the international rate before you buy one for calling home.
Travel eSIMs are often data-only, with no phone number. They work well with WhatsApp, FaceTime or a browser calling service, but you cannot dial a normal number from them directly.
WiFi is the cheapest way to call home if the person you are calling uses the same app as you. For an Australian landline, an older relative without a smartphone, or a business, you need a service that connects to the phone network.

For the opposite direction, our guide on making international calls from Australia covers exit code 0011 and Australian carrier rates.

Mistakes that make the call fail

Keeping the 0. Dialling +61 04xx xxx xxx or 00 61 02 xxxx xxxx often fails or reaches a wrong-number message. Drop the 0 every time.
Using Australia's exit code abroad. 0011 only works inside Australia. In London you dial 00, in New York 011.
Dialling a 13 or 1800 number. Find the organisation's +61 overseas number instead.
Forgetting the outside line on a hotel phone. Without it, the hotel switchboard tries to treat your digits as a room number.
Calling at 3am. Check the time table above, especially in the weeks when Australia and the northern hemisphere change clocks in opposite directions.

Frequently asked questions

Is Australia +61 or 04?

Both, but they do different jobs. +61 is Australia's country code, which you dial from overseas. 04 is how every Australian mobile number starts when written for local use. From overseas you combine them by dropping the 0, so 04xx xxx xxx becomes +61 4xx xxx xxx.

How do I write an Australian phone number with the country code?

Write +61, then the number without its first 0. A Melbourne landline (03) xxxx xxxx becomes +61 3 xxxx xxxx, and a mobile 04xx xxx xxx becomes +61 4xx xxx xxx. This format works from any mobile in any country, including inside Australia.

How do I call an Australian mobile from overseas?

On a mobile, dial +61 and then the mobile number without the leading 0, for example +61 412 345 678. On a landline, replace the + with your local exit code, such as 00 from the UK or 011 from the US. Calls to Australian mobiles usually cost more than calls to landlines, so check the rate first.

Can I call a 1300 number from overseas?

Sometimes. Some 1300 numbers connect when dialled as +61 1300 followed by the six remaining digits, but many do not, and 13 and 1800 numbers usually do not work at all from abroad. The reliable fix is to look for the organisation's overseas contact number on its website.

What is the cheapest way to call Australia from overseas?

If the person you are calling uses WhatsApp or FaceTime, an app call over WiFi costs nothing extra. For landlines, mobiles without data, or businesses, a pay-as-you-go internet calling service usually costs far less than standard carrier rates. If you are an Australian travelling for a short trip, your carrier's day pass may be the simplest choice.

How to Call Australia from Overseas: +61 Dialling and Exit Codes