The Wallabies led 21-12 at the break and looked on course for their first victory of the campaign, but France dominated after halftime with a clinical display that exposed Australia's poor discipline, missed tackles and inaccurate kicking.
France made the perfect start when Emmanuel Meafou crashed over in just the second minute after Australia conceded an early penalty for a high tackle. Maxime Lucu added the conversion to give the visitors a 7-0 lead.
Australia responded in the 10th minute through hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa, with Ryan Lonergan converting to level the scores.
France regained the lead seven minutes later when Romain Ntamack's clever grubber kick bounced perfectly for debutant Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang to score in the corner.
The momentum shifted when Meafou was shown a yellow card in the 24th minute for a dangerous shoulder-to-head challenge, leaving France down to 14 players.
Australia took full advantage. Fraser McReight crossed after a quick tap move before adding his second try from a driving maul six minutes later. Lonergan converted both tries to give the Wallabies a 21-12 halftime advantage.
France began their comeback early in the second half when Lucu kicked a penalty to reduce the gap before Grandidier-Nkanang finished off a superb counter-attack from deep inside his own half for his second try on debut.
Australia's problems grew when Tom Wright was sent to the sin bin in the 51st minute for failing to roll away at the breakdown.
France immediately took control. Ntamack sliced through the defence with a well-timed dummy to score before Lucu's conversion put the visitors back in front.
The French continued to punish Australia's mistakes. Another attack that started deep inside their own half ended with Florian Verhaeghe scoring beneath the posts, and Lucu's conversion stretched the lead to 34-21.
Lucu later added a penalty before Theo Attissogbe finished another flowing move in the 73rd minute to take France beyond the 40-point mark.
Australia scored a late consolation try through Jeremy Williams to secure a four-try bonus point, but it did little to change the outcome as France completed an impressive 42-26 victory.
Player of the Match: Debutant winger Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang enjoyed a memorable first Test, scoring two tries and making two clean line breaks in an outstanding display for France.
Springbok star Ben-Jason Dixon immediately cast his eye to the challenge awaiting the Boks when they host Wales in Durban next week, predicting they were in for another tense tussle.
Argentina celebrated Guido Petti's 100th Test appearance in style, overpowering Wales with a dominant 35-21 display in San Juan on Saturday night.
A much-changed Springbok team came through a slugfest with Scotland to eventually win 42-28 in their Nations Championship clash at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The Springboks had to dig incredibly deep to down a very impressive Scotland side 42-28 in an epic, see-sawing Nations Championship clash at Loftus Versfeld.
