Just resurrecting this to check experience and my reading of it.
Flying BNE-SYD on QF8 tomorrow, connecting to AC33 to YVR/YYZ. All in J.
As I understand from all the above:
1) I check in at BNE international (not online - it wouldn't let me anyway), may or may not get a "D" sticker on my boarding pass but go through departing customs anyway
2) On arrival at SYD I don't need to go through international arrival customs and departure customs again, just straight into international connections (via a security check) and I'm at the gate (or lounge)
Is that how people have experienced it recently? (And yes, I'm watching QF8 on the inbound from DFW, and it's running 30mins late; diverted to AKL this morning, so will switch to the other BNE-SYD flight if that looks like happening tomorrow morning).