England's Lauren Hemp celebrates after scoring her side's first goal over Colombia's goalkeeper Catalina Perez at Stadium Australia in Sydney on Saturday. AP

England battled past a physical Colombia 2-1 and Australia survived a thrilling penalty shootout against France on Saturday to set up a blockbuster Women's World Cup semi-final.

Sarina Wiegman's European champions fought back from going down to a stunning Leicy Santos goal for a deserved win in front of a pro-Colombian crowd of 75,000 in Sydney.

England will be back at Stadium Australia on Wednesday and will face an even more hostile reception against the co-hosts.

Colombia, playing in their first quarter-final, took the lead against the run of play through a wonderful dipping effort from the edge of the box by Santos on 44 minutes. But England struck back deep in first-half stoppage time when Lauren Hemp pounced on a goalkeeping error by a fumbling Catalina Perez, before Alessia Russo sealed the quarter-final in the Lionesses' favour with a cool second-half finish.

Colombia have a reputation for being physical and they dished out some roughhouse treatment.

Lauren Hemp (C) celebrates scoring her team's first goal during quarter-final match against Colombia in Sydney. AFP

Wiegman praised her players for keeping their cool while still remaining aggressive. "We stay calm, we can see the goal, you don't see panic," said Wiegman, who took her native Netherlands to the 2019 final, where they lost 2-0 to the United States.

"We have had lots of challenges and we have got through. "It shows the resilience of the team... they got through really well, they got up and got the win over the line."

England's fans celebrate their team victory in London. AFP

The 25th-ranked Colombia were among the many surprises at the World Cup, their stunning 2-1 win over Germany a highlight of the group phase.

They have also been one of the best-supported teams at the tournament and their fans dominated at Stadium Australia, their yellow shirts vastly outnumbering England supporters.

Their coach Nelson Abadia called the tournament "a turning point" for women's football in Colombia. "We are not satisfied but we have peace of mind because we know we had a very good performance throughout the World Cup," he said. "We proved how Colombia has progressed and evolved."

Agence France-Presse