This book is a sibling of two previous works: Australia 1942: In the Shadow of War and Australia 1943: The Liberation of New Guinea. While following a similar theme and approach, both of the two previous books had a different focus. Australia 1942 was centred on Australia's first traumatic year of the Pacific War, from the fall of Singapore to the victory in Papua in January 1943. It discussed the battles of 1942 that were fought in the air and sea approaches to the Australian continent and in the islands of the archipelago to Australia's north. That book not only placed these events in their strategic context but also more broadly addressed the major reforms and issues that occurred in Australian politics, the economy and in the relationship Australia had with Japan in the lead up to the war. It did so in order to provide a broad overview of the changes that Australia underwent as a result of the onset of the Pacific War.

Australia 1943 had a somewhat narrower focus. That book focused heavily on Australia's role in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) during 1943, including its strategic challenges and the broader context of US and Allied strategy. Australia 1943 was much more centred on military operations and strategy. The broader context was provided by an examination of Allied and Japanese strategy in the Pacific as well as the operations undertaken by US forces in the South Pacific Area (SOPAC) and the SWPA. It focused on the decisive campaign that occurred in New Guinea between January 1943 and April 1944. That narrower approach did not seek to deny the critical importance of the home front. Rather it was a reflection of the fact that many of the major policy and social reforms in Australia's war effort occurred in 1942, and that 1943 was a year of execution and implementation.

For Australia 1944–45: Victory in the Pacific, the focus has shifted again. This time the approach is designed to bring together the themes from the first two books. It once again focuses on strategy and operations, but also revisits the home front and shows how the period of 1942–43 relates to 1944–45.