Protests and tight security have followed the Olympic torch around the world over the past month, putting China's domestic and foreign polices under the spotlight ahead of the Games in August.
Beijing had hoped the torch's progress would be a symbol of unity in the run-up to the Beijing Games. However, it has turned into a public relations nightmare, forcing host countries to protect the torch with security measures usually afforded a state leader.
Anti-Chinese protests during the previous relay legs have sparked a wave of patriotism amongst Chinese at home and abroad, and on Thursday thousands of Chinese chanting "One China" packed the start and finish of the torch relay in the Australian capital.
Police made seven arrests, but for the most part the event was peaceful.
"This is a magnificent day for us today to show that Australia can have a peaceful rally. Watching overseas protests, I felt shamed that they can behave like that," Wellington Lee from the Chinese Association from the Victorian state told Reuters.
Chinese six-deep lined the 16-km (10-mile) relay route, and hundreds of cars drove around Canberra carrying Chinese flags.
"It was highly organised. Australians will feel a little bit uncomfortable by the fact that communist China came to town and just showed it can buy anything," free-Tibet supporter and Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown told Reuters.
Anti-China protests have largely focused on Beijing's crackdown against demonstrations by Tibetans in China earlier this year.
In Washington, Deputy U.S. Secretary of State John Negroponte called on China to stop vilifying the Dalai Lama and to instead start talks with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
