The Kookaburras' grip on a Champions Trophy men's hockey final berth has been loosened with a 3-1 defeat by Olympic champions Germany in Melbourne on Thursday night.

Germany ended Australia's unbeaten run in the tournament with three first half goals and an outstanding defensive effort.

The Kookaburras, whose attack had been rampant in their opening three matches, got little change out of a miserly German defence.

Australia remain top of the table on goal difference ahead of the Germans.

But the Kookaburras now need at least a draw with Spain in their last round-robin match on Saturday to seal a berth in the gold medal match.

With the top two teams after the round-robin qualifying, third-placed South Korea could sneak into the final at Australia's expense should they beat England and Australia lose to the Spaniards.

The same scenario faces Germany despite their impressive win over Australia. They face The Netherlands in the last round-robin match.

Three goals in six first half minutes ensured Thursday night's victory for the Germans, with Jan-Marco Montag opening the scoring on 25 minutes.

Then star striker Matthias Witthaus finished off a superbly worked team goal with five players featuring in the lead-up to make it 2-0 two minutes later, before Christopher Wesley added a third in the 31st minute.

Luke Doerner gave Australia some cause for hope midway through the second half with a goal to reduce the deficit.

But Germany's defence, brilliantly marshalled by skipper Max Muller and Martin Haner, stood up throughout the second half.

They withstood waves of Australian attack, even when Germany reduced to 10 men inside the final 10 minutes when Jan-Philipp Rabente was yellow-carded.

In Thursday's other matches, South Korea produced a remarkable fightback from 5-1 down with 12 minutes left to draw 5-5 with Spain and move to within two points of Australia and Germany.

The Netherlands beat winless England 3-2 in the other match.

AAP