With their New Zealand monkey off their back, Australia have their sights set firmly on continuing their 20-over momentum all the way to next month's World T20, spearhead Megan Schutt believes.

After losing their last three T20 series to the White Ferns, Australia took an unassailable 2-0 lead thanks to a six-wicket win at Allan Border Field on Monday, chasing the tourists' 8-145 with an over to spare.

They've now triumphed in five T20Is on the trot – something they haven't managed since winning 16 in a row across 2014-15.

And their timing couldn't be better, with their World T20 campaign to begin in Guyana in five weeks’ time.

"It's a breath of fresh air, that's for sure," Schutt said following Monday's game. "We were all a little nervous coming into the series and the first win was great, but as we spoke about earlier, we've been in that position before and lost the series.

"So to finish it two from two is fantastic."

Australia's bowlers were forced to fight their way back into the match during New Zealand's innings, with an in-form Suzie Bates powering her team to a total that at one point looked as though it could exceed 170.

But her dismissal – brought about by a clever variation from Ellyse Perry and an excellent diving catch from ‘keeper Alyssa Healy – gave Australia the breakthrough they needed, as they leaked just 25 runs from the final five overs.

Keeping their nerve and being resilient in exactly that situation is something the Australian camp has spoken about constantly throughout the last 12 months, since their World Cup campaign was ended in the UK last year when a stunning knock of 171no from India allrounder Harmanpreet Kaur left Meg Lanning's team shell shocked.

"We need to never really roll over," Schutt said. "That's T20 cricket as well, one batter can take it away from you.

"But we knew if we could just get a couple of wickets there in the middle, we could really squeeze them at the end.

"We pegged them back beautifully after the first ten (overs) were a bit up and down … we bowled some good death bowling there.

"When Suzie is on she's hard to control, so to eventually get her out the way we did was fantastic."

Now Australia are determined to make it a series whitewash when the action moves to Canberra for Friday's third and final game at Manuka Oval.

"It's bragging rights, for one … but momentum heading forward is so important," Schutt said.

Meanwhile for New Zealand, Friday's game presents a chance to get back on track ahead of the World T20.

The White Ferns have now lost five of their last six games in the format and it's a record Bates says they'll be urgently looking to turn around.

"It was a real shame to lose that game today, we've competed well but we've been short in a couple of areas," Bates said.

"But we've got a massive World T20 coming up so the goal for this team is to keep getting batter.

"We've made some improvements with our batting in the middle to lower order, so we need to keep working on that and our bowling plans as well."