Josh Hazlewood's 5-for helps Steve Smith's Australia reclaim Ashes in Perth

Perth: Australia regained the Ashes from England after a series-clinching win in the third cricket Test at the WACA on Monday.

Steve Smith's Australians followed up their convincing victories in the first two Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide by winning the third by an even more emphatic margin of an innings and 41 runs to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five match series.

Needing to bat through the fifth and final day to salvage a draw and keep the series alive, England crumbled to be all out for just 218 after Australia's fickle weather almost saved them.

Monday's scheduled start of play was delayed by three hours because of rain and water damage to the pitch, briefly raising England's hopes the tourists could hold on for a draw and frustrating s Australia's ruthless pursuit of victory.

But the end came swiftly enough once the umpires agreed to let play finally recommence after lunch with Australian paceman Josh Hazlewood ripping through England's middle and lower order batsmen.

Hazlewood clean bowled England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow for 14 with his first delivery of the day then added the key wickets of Dawid Malan (54) and Craig Overton (12) to complete his first five-wicket haul in an Ashes test and finish with figures of 5-48.

Spinner Nathan Lyon (2-42) removed Moeen Ali for 11 before Pat Cummins (2-53) dismissed Stuart Broad (0) and Chris Woakes (22) to seal Australia's lopsided win just before the tea break.

England had won four of the last five Ashes series' against its great cricket rivals but was swept 5-0 on its last visit to Australia four years ago and could face the same gloomy prospect again with back-to-back matches in Melbourne and Sydney still to come.

England was seemingly in a strong position after racing to 368-4 in its first innings but collapsed to be all out for 403 then found itself trailing by 259 runs after Australia posted a massive total of 662-9 on the back of a double century by Steve Smith.