Saudi Arabia had a stoppage-time goal ruled out as Herve Renard's first game since returning as head coach ended in a 0-0 draw against Australia in World Cup qualifying.

Sultan Al-Ghannam fired through a sea of bodies in the 94th minute of Thursday's Group C contest at AAMI Park, but the celebrations were cut short due to an offside infringement.

Referee Ali Saeed Al Naqbi had earlier irked the home side by awarding a 12th-minute penalty for an Ahmed Al-Kassar challenge on Mitch Duke, which was then overturned.

Replays showed the incident happened just outside the box, but Australia felt the Saudi keeper should have been sent off and not issued just a yellow card.

Joe Gauci pulled off a fine double save later in the first half, albeit the offside flag later went up, but it was Australia who did more to win the game prior to the late drama.

Brandon Borrello was played clean through on goal and opted to square to Riley McGree, who was unable to help the ball past covering defender Saud Abdulhamid in front of goal.

Data Debrief: Another blank for both sides

Australia entered this game without a goal against Saudi Arabia in 2,716 days - a run that will extend for a little while longer after this latest blank.

The Socceroos have failed to score in three of their five third-round qualifying games, while Saudi Arabia have gone three in a row without netting.

Tony Popovic's side will justifiably argue they did more to win the game, though, finishing with an expected goals value (xG) of 1.31 to Saudi Arabia's 0.05, but the teams remain locked on points in Group C.