Australia's economic growth rate accelerated in the first quarter this year as strong export volumes and household spending on services helped offset lacklustre business profits and investment.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday gross domestic product expanded 1.1 per cent in the first three months of the year, compared with a revised 0.7 per cent in the final 2015 quarter.

The figure was even better than the hurriedly revised economists' estimates after a much stronger contribution from net exports, revealed on Tuesday, had pushed GDP forecasts up from 0.6 per cent on Monday to 0.8 per cent just ahead of Wednesday's data.

The Australian dollar immediately spiked about half a US cent to US72.90. In late local trade it was fetching US72.61.