Co-hosts Australia beat France 7-6 in a dramatic penalty shootout to reach the last four of the Women's World Cup for the first time after their quarter-final finished deadlocked at 0-0 following extra time on Saturday.

Australia goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold saved three French penalties and missed one herself in the shootout but it was teenager Vicki Becho hitting the post with the 12th spot-kick that opened the door for the hosts.

Cortnee Vine showed nerves of steel when she stepped up to fire the ball past Solene Durand into the bottom right corner of the net and send the Matildas into a semi-final against England, who beat Colombia 2-1 in the other match of the day.

Spain will play Sweden in the first semi-final on Tuesday.

Arnold hit the post with what would have been the winning spot-kick before the shootout went to sudden death, but she kept her focus to twice save penalties from Kenza Dali, seeing the first scratched off because she moved off the line.

"It's unreal," said Arnold. "At the end of the day, it's my job to keep the ball out of the net. And thankfully I could do that for them. But we all do it for each other out there, and they have my back 100 per cent."

England fight back

In the other quarter final, England came back from a goal down to beat Colombia 2-1.

England conceded in the 44th minute to a cross-shot from Leicy Santos but equalised in first-half stoppage time and went ahead through Alessia Russo after the hour mark to complete the turnaround.

"I think the team again showed some resilience and a lot of togetherness. And yeah, I'm just really proud again of the team," England coach Sarina Wiegman said.