AUSTRALIA has reclaimed the men's team pursuit world record for the first time since 2004 on a dominant opening night of track racing in Brisbane.

The team won three of four gold medals on offer and medalled in both para-cycling events to take the early upper hand in cycling's 'Ashes on wheels'.

Gold medals came in the men's and women's team pursuits and women's team sprint, but the highlight was undoubtedly the men's 4km team pursuit world record with a breathtaking gold medal ride of 3mins 49.8secs on the Anna Meares Velodrome.

The quartet of Alex Porter, Sam Welsford, Kelland O'Brien and Leigh Howard produced the first ever sub 3:50 ride to beat England in the final.

Australia lost a heartbreaking Olympic final in Rio two years ago when it broke the world record, only for Great Britain to break it by more and stop the clock at 3:50.2.

But last night the record finally returned to Australia's grasp as an almost entirely new-look squad hit back.

Welsford is the only remaining member from the Rio campaign while Howard only returned to track cycling from the road last year, and Porter, 21, and O'Brien, 19, are on their Games debut.

"I didn't find out we were going to pull off a world record until we crossed the finish line but this afternoon we re-evaluated as a team and I got the call up and I'm so happy to be a part of this," said O'Brien, who came in for the final in place of Jordan Kerby who rode qualifying.

"It's unbelievable, it definitely hasn't sunk in yet and I'm so happy to pull it off.

"It overwhelms me having my parents and sisters and all my family here, it's something really special and I definitely shed a tear.

"A few more years (towards Tokyo) is going to be hard to stay up in the top end but the depth in Australian cycling is amazing, the culture is amazing and I'm so proud to be part of the team, and hopefully in the next few years we can step up again and show the world what our country is all about."

Both young guns O'Brien and Porter are sporting mullet haircuts at this week's Games and say they could be the secret to their success.

"I'm not sure if we're raising money but it's breaking world records," O'Brien said.

Earlier, the women pursuiters made history and buried some of their demons by winning the team's first gold medal of the Games.

Two years after their Rio Olympic campaign was essentially over before it began with a training crash on the eve of competition, the Australian squad won the first ever women's team pursuit on the Commonwealth Games program.

Guided by new coach Jason Bartram, riders Alex Manly, Annette Edmondson, Amy Cure and Ashlee Ankudinoff celebrated with a group hug on the inside of the track after beating New Zealand in Games record 4mins 15.214secs in the 4km final.

"To win a gold medal is really cool and there's nothing quite like doing it in front of a home crowd," Edmondson said.

"Unfortunately sport has its ups and downs and that (Rio) was not what we wanted after all that build up but we had to look at this as a new opportunity and focused on what we could control - and that was going fast."

The Aussies caught the Kiwis on the last lap of their final to clinch a historic gold medal and kickstart Australia's cycling campaign.

Manly, 22, was on her Games debut while Cure and Edmondson won gold medals in Glasgow four years ago and Ankudinoff made her Olympic debut in Rio.

But they said the win was also about their two teammates Georgia Baker and Rebecca Wiasak who missed out on a ride and were instead cheering from the sidelines.

"It was amazing, so good to win but it's not just us four girls who ride the bike, it's Georgia Baker, Rebecca Wiasak who made the journey over here and didn't get a ride but have been pushing us at training every day to perform," Cure said.

"We owe it to them as much as we won there and to all the people who help us."

Manly said the gold medal made for a dream debut.

"We just set out to go as fast as we could and I knew the home crowd could get us home, we were wanting a quick time and we got it," she said.

"I couldn't have asked for three better teammates who were riding with me but also Bec Wiasak and Georgia Baker who pushed us all the way and are a part of it as much as we are."

Stephanie Morton and Kaarle McCulloch showed Australian women's sprinting is in good hands by winning gold in the team sprint.

McCulloch rode with Anna Meares to win gold in the team sprint in Delhi eight years ago and has since overcome a career-threatening injury, selection pain and a battle with low motivation and depression to return to the top of her sport.

Morton meanwhile has long been hailed the future queen of the track and at 27 has well and truly arrived as Meares watched on from the stands in the track named in her honour.

The pair combined with McCulloch bursting out of the blocks as starter and Morton bringing them home on the second lap to beat New Zealand in Games record time of 32.488secs in their team sprint final.

"Can't complain with a casual Aussie record but we're stoked, that's what we came here for - to smash our own record and we got it convincingly so it's pretty exciting with three days to go," Morton said.

"It's insane, we were pretty lucky to get to see the track endurance and tandems go before so it was cool once you got up there, you knew that noise was for us.

"I've said it for a while, I'd prefer the first Steph Morton and Kaarle McCulloch (as opposed to the next Anna Meares), we're the fastest team sprint Australia has ever had and we can only look forward to Tokyo, we're both in really good form."

McCulloch said the pair had great chemistry on the track and their record was proof.

"Steph and I are not a new team but we're not an old team either, we've almost won nearly every time we step on a track together, so to be able to go from Anna as a team sprint partner to Steph and make some history is awesome, and I'm looking forward to Tokyo and beyond," McCulloch said.

"We've both got amazing form at the moment which is a credit to our coaches and I think this crowd is pushing us over the line as well."

Australia's other medals came with bronze in the men's team sprint to Pat Constable, Matt Glaetzer and Nathan Hart, bronze to Thomas Clarke and Bradley Henderson in the 1km tandem time trial, and silver to Jess Gallagher and Maddison Janssen in the women's tandem sprint.