Andy Murray leaves Melbourne with his head held high despite bowing out of the Australian Open at the semi-final stage of Friday night.

The fourth seed lost a marathon clash to world No.1 Novak Djokovic 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 1-6 5-7 in one of the greatest ever matches at Melbourne Park.

Murray heroically fought back from 2-5 down in the final set and had three chances to break the Djokovic serve at 5-5 before succumbing the very next game after four hours and 50 minutes on court.

He was left to rue his inability to break Djokovic's serve in that 11th game, which could have proved the difference in such a tight clash.

"I had the chance at 5-All, one of the points I missed a backhand into the net," he said.

"But if you look at the stats from that game, it was probably like four or five deuces. He missed one first serve."

"Again, he served really well on those points, so he was able to dictate them, which when I was getting myself into the rallies, I was dictating a lot of the points."

"Yeah, it was tough at the end 'cause, you know, obviously you come back, then you get close to breaking. To lose, yeah, it's tough."

While he was disappointed to not be contesting his fourth Grand Slam final, he rated his performance as 'an eight and a half' and happy that he gave it is all.

"I think for a lot of the match it was close to a 10, but at the start of the match I didn't play as well as I would have liked," he said.

"And then start of the fourth set I would have liked to have been a bit better."

"But apart from that, I can't really complain too much. I think I can still improve, and that's why I can't give myself a 10. But, yeah, it was close to a really great match."

"Sometimes you come off the court and you've played really badly, you haven't quite been there mentally, and then you're really disappointed with yourself 'cause you've let yourself down."

"I don't feel like I've let myself down today. I'm proud of the way I fought. "

Murray credited his vast improvement on last year's result against Djokovic - where he was beaten in straight sets in the final - down to a newfound attitude and aggressive playing style.

"(I'm) a different player, a different attitude to this time last year," he said.

"I feel now like, yeah, I'm ready mentally. Physically I can still get better, for sure. But, yeah, I mean, in comparison to how I played last year, it was much, much better."

"Everyone always says to me, 'Andy's too passive; he doesn't go for his shots enough'. I think tonight I did that."

"I probably made more mistakes than him, but I'm quite sure I hit more winners. I think through like three sets he only hit 14, 15 winners."

"So, you know, I was moving well and dictating a lot of the points, which is important."

Murray will return home for a much-needed rest before deciding whether he will play in Great Britain's Davis Cup tie against Slovakia in February.