"That probably hasn't been talked about at all," Mannering said at a joint Kiwis and Kangaroos press conference at the Cake Tin yesterday.
"We've felt like we've grown as a group throughout the tournament. We probably didn't have our best performance in that second game [against Samoa] but we got back to what we did best against England.
"There is confidence in our ability and confidence in us as a group to work together.
"And that's the challenge for us, is to bring out our best for this last game of the tournament.
"Everything is on the line and both teams aren't going to die wondering, so hopefully it makes for a great game."
After the Kiwis upset the world champions in their own backyard and then advanced with wins in Whangarei (Samoa) and Dunedin (England), tonight looms as their best chance to topple the Kangaroos in a tournament final.
Mannering denies his side hold any fear of stumbling at the last hurdle, on home soil, and said their focus remained on taking that crucial last step in their journey.
"As a group we've learned a lot over the tournament. When it started, we very much said there were steps in place to get us where we are now and obviously there's one more step to go.
"There's no talk about winning it or losing it, just about taking that next step and that's obviously through our performance. It's a good way for this group to approach it and hopefully it works tomorrow night."
While satisfied with the improvements they have been able to make over their past three games, the Kiwis remain wary of the Kangaroos, who bounced back after their opening loss to post hard-fought and impressive wins over England and Samoa.
"It's going to be a very tough challenge. Aussie have showed that they are a quality team after probably being disappointed with how they played [in game one] and a few things not going their way injury-wise.
"They have put two very good performances together back to back and it's going to be a great challenge and it's definitely going to be a different one from the start of the tournament."
Shutting down outstanding Kangaroos fullback Greg Inglis remains one of the Kiwis' biggest challenges, but Mannering believes they must concentrate on getting their own game right rather than worrying about the opposition.
"They've got key guys all over the park," he said. Obviously that's a pretty vital position at fullback but you don't want to single any of the players out - right across the park there's quality.
"There are match-ups all over, and our focus is very much on our own performance and preparation and what we can do to improve that. There's a lot of respect for this Australian team - we know what they are capable of but we're not putting too much of our energy into that.
"It's more about what we can do to put a good performance together."
Any complacency that followed the Kiwis' initial victory was eradicated during the torrid encounter against Samoa and helped them to regain their focus before last week's tense win at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
The rugged and unrelenting nature of both games had helped bring an edge to the Kiwis' play and Mannering hopes they have provided the ideal preparation for the final.
"I hope so, yeah. It did [help] with that Samoan game. It was a pretty big occasion in Brisbane and to come off the back of that we probably didn't respond as good as we wanted to.
"I do think it was probably a good result for us going into that England game and hopefully that showed.
"But it's going to be a different challenge this week and if you can't get up for a final, the Four Nations against Aussie, then something's not right. I'm sure the guys will be raring to go."
