As expected, Australian shoppers filled up shopping malls on Wednesday, Boxing Day, for reduced prices of items which saved buyers an estimated $600 million across the country.

In exchange for the deeper discounts, consumers spent billions of dollars which helped boost Australia's weak retail sector as Aussies held tighter to their purses and either purchased online to avoid paying the general sales tax or delayed buying until Boxing Day.

The Australian National Retailers Association estimated that Victorians spent $588 million on Wednesday, the highest among Aussie states, while across the nation, total spending was placed tentatively at $1.8 billion. To ensure that the spending environment would be conducive to shoppers, some stores opened earlier than usual such as Chadstone which opened its doors at 7 a.m. and Highpoint at 8 a.m.

David Jones, in turn, handed out $100 gift cards to the first 100 shoppers and opened its online sales at the night of Christmas Day. Dick Smith opened its online sales 6 p.m. and Myer's 9 p.m. of Christmas Eve.

Gladstone Shopping Centre in Melbourne was open for 34 hours beginning 8 a.m. of Sunday. On its first 24 hours open, more than 185,000 shoppers visited the centre, said Chadstone General Manager Daniel Sutton.

With longer shopping hours of at least 20 hours, bargain seekers spent over $29 million per hour or $490,000 every minute.

It was not only bricks-and-mortar stores that benefited from the Boxing Day spending spree, but also online store, said Australian Retailers Association Executive Director Russell Zimmerman.

Long queues were observed in many stores and malls, prompting Victorian Consumer Affairs Minister Michael O'Brien to conclude that consuming confidence is improving.

"The early indications in terms of crowd numbers have been quite good and stronger than last year. We've got an economy that's got relatively low unemployment, low inflation and low interest rates so we are hopeful that this will be a sign that people have got a bit more confidence in spending," The Daily Telegraph quoted the minister.

It was not just consumer goods that went on sales on Wednesday. Jetstar, Tiger Airways, Cathay Pacific and Air Pacific, the flag carrier of Fiji, also cut ticket prices on Boxing Day.

Jetstar reduced ticket prices from Sydney and Melbourne to Bali to $199 from $399 with selected travel dates in August and September. For the Darwin to Bali route, the budget air carrier sold tickets for $99, for Gold Coast to Christchurch $199, Cairns to Tokyo $199 and Gold Coast to Tokyo $229.

Air Pacific cut fare to Nadi up to 43 per cent, reducing ticket cost for return flights from Sydney $482, from Melbourne $539 and from Brisbane $600.

Cathay Pacific cut ticket prices from Melbourne to Hong Kong from $911, Sydney to Hong Kong from $929, Brisbane to Shanghai from $994 and Adelaide to Seoul from $1,114.

However, despite the last-minute Christmas Eve and Boxing Day shopping blitz, there was no Christmas miracle for Australia's retail sector since consumers mostly went just for items on sales, prompting retailers to foresee cloudy days ahead for 2013.

"I think it's going to be gloomy for at least the first half of the year . . . We're going to see more impact in the discretionary spend areas from online. I hate to say it but I think we're going to see some more reasonably high-profile failures," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Australian National Retail Association Chief Executive Margy Osmond.

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