You'll likely face secondary security before boarding the plane at DXB heading to Australia. All duty free is removed from you for storage on board and you claim it when you land in Australia. Don't attempt to take anything above 100ml that isn't in your plastic bag as you've either to drink it or dump it.

A lady came through with a bottle of water just behind me and she wasn't allowed through to the gate area with the bottle, not even to sit while she drank it!

transfer dxb
 

I transfered at dxb, from cgk to ams just to find out i had a 250ml hair wax in my backpack (carry on). Nobody even winked an eye.

When transiting through DXB I've frequently had bottles of water and/or amenity kits in my bag, through the scanner with no issues.
As pointed out MAN is a lot more strict but I usually just chuck my Vaseline in the tray (without plastic bag) and get through fine. Contact lenses stay in my bag, no issues there either.

Only liquid I've had taken off me at DXB is small bottles of wine I hadn't drunk on the flight and was keeping for my hotel.

Never had a problem with the EK amenity kits in Dubai. Have also taken bottles of water through security without problems.

It seems we have a consensus here : liquids are OK through transit security at DXB.
Now, who can answer this question : what are they looking for ?!?

I think it was originally something to do with nitroglycerine. Apparently there was a foiled plot to blow a plane up with this in some hand luggage. However, I suspect this action may be outdated because I'm sure there are more sophisticated devices out there now that would do the job ( or even basic plots like just happened to the Russian plane).

Not sure why this post was overlooked. The flights to Australia are typically subjected to a hand search of carry on luggage during the boarding process. Liquids above the allowed size are not permitted in the cabin.

However you don't have to worry about clear container nonsense and the amenity kit will not cause any problems.

Per the emirates website:

I think ioto1902 meant what are transit security in DXB looking for in general. If so, the answer seems to be very little, and it's just for show.

A lot of airports now (note not all, but a fair few - US is still not one of them) will let LAGs under 100mL slide (that is, not ping them if they are in your hand luggage and haven't been separately presented for scanning). However, anything larger will generally get flagged.

On manual hand baggage searches before boarding flights to Aus, all I can say is I really appreciate the Emirates First Concourse A lounge and it's in-lounge boarding gates, so your bag contents don't have to be inspected before all and sundry. In fact, I find the First lounge (at DXB Concourse A) makes boarding far better than what I go through at SIN.