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Italy have beaten Australia 16-14 in the women's water polo bronze-medal game at the world championships in Japan.

Australia's women's water polo coach Paul Oberman has issued an instant challenge to his players after they missed out on a bronze medal at the world championships.

The Australians were beaten by Italy 16-14 in the bronze-medal game in Fukuoka, Japan, on Friday.

"To make the top four is a success," Oberman told AAP.

"But ... fourth place is always the worst place to come.

"You lose your last two games after all the good work you have done early."

Oberman said his squad must digest their disappointment and rapidly move on, with Olympic qualifiers against New Zealand looming.

Australia meet the Kiwis in a best-of-three series in Auckland starting on August 11 - with the winner securing a spot at next year's Paris Olympics.

"With this disappointment, we have got to turn this around in a short timeframe and look at what we need to do to play against New Zealand," Oberman said.

Against Italy, the Stingers were level, 10-all, at halftime but conceded five of the next six goals in a medal-defining period.

The Italian burst coincided with Australian pair Tilly Kearns and Amy Ridge being rubbed out of the game for three personal fouls.

After trailing by four goals early in the final term, Australia snuck within two but couldn't make further inroads.

Alice Williams led Australia's scoring with three goals, and teammates Bronte Halligan, Abby Andrews and Charlize Andrews all netted twice.

Pascalle Casey, Kearns, captain Zoe Arancini and Elle Armit also scored.

"Italy were playing a very tough, physical press ... and our girls got tired," Oberman said.

"We still scored 10 (by halftime). You look at the defence and say, 'What went wrong?'.

"I am not going to pick out any particular player, we are in this together as a team, and we just need to be better next time.

"We had to play a little bit tougher and stronger.

"There is still learning to go, I am not going to deny that, there's a lot of learning to do."