In the opening 30 minutes of action in Wednesday's mega shopping event, known as Singles' Day, over RMB 372.3 billion ($77.3 billion) was transacted on Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

The eager shoppers were online to buy apartments, luxury bags, appliances, daily necessities, and cars — nearly 330,000 were sold within the first hour alone.

And Australian brands were the fourth most popular overseas products, following Japan, the United States and South Korea.

"We continue to see strong enthusiasm from Australian brands to participate in the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival", said Maggie Zhou, the Managing Director of Alibaba Group in Australia and New Zealand.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly accelerated the digitalisation of many retailers and businesses and many consumers have shifted their behaviours and turned to e-commerce.

"In the first hour of this year's Festival … Australia has retained its place from last year as the fourth most popular country selling into China," she said.

While the coronavirus pandemic has hit the domestic economy hard, our biggest trade partner has recently imposed a raft of trade measures on Australian exports, following the escalation of diplomatic tensions since Canberra called for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19.

However, Jeremy Hunt, chief operating officer from Health More, one of Australia's biggest distribution platforms taking domestic products to China, told the ABC that the trade through Cross Border E-Commerce (CBEC) channel remained "harnessed" and "protected".

He said Australian companies showed increasing demand for opportunities to "regain some momentum".

"[CBEC] almost is in a silo to the political tension that we're reading in the media," Mr Hunt said.

"There is an increased demand in products from Australia … [and] increased sales results on online platforms for Australian businesses right now.

"Those combined demonstrate this as a very healthy commercial transactional relationship between Chinese consumers and Australian businesses."

The festival was originally called Bachelors' Day by Alibaba's founder, Jack Ma.

It has expanded to be an international shopping day in other Asia-Pacific countries such as Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and some cities in Australia.

How did Australian businesses go amid trade tensions?

When clocks ticked past midnight and into the early hours of Wednesday, 800 million Chinese consumers rushed their digital shopping carts through online checkouts, as sales kicked off simultaneously on nearly 500 Chinese platforms, including Alibaba, JD.com and Pinduoduo.

After an hour, two Australian companies producing infant formula and health supplements ranked in the top 10 imported brands bought by Chinese consumers.

This year, there has been an unprecedented interest in the Chinese market, as Australian businesses try to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Hunt said at least 2,000 Australian businesses have joined the shopping event, with 160 companies setting up online stores on Alibaba during the pandemic.

"Over $1 billion total sales for Australian brands across all platforms during Singles' Day," he said.

He said the festival had not only engaged established businesses that have been around for decades in Australian supermarkets, but also new brands looking for a chance to expose themselves to Chinese customers.

"Singles' Day has just grown into this massive online beast and even in Australia, we've got JB Hi-Fi … Net-a-Porter that are participating in 11.11 or Singles' Day," he said.

"It's grown beyond China, and it's grown beyond Alibaba."

A spokesperson for Blackmores told the ABC that the company's vitamins and supplement products were available on a variety of Chinese shopping platforms such as Alibaba network, JD, Kaola and VIP during Singles' Day 2020.

But the spokesperson said it was "too early to share" specific sales results and the company was pleased with the initial results as sales and operations have been affected by COVID-19 since January.

"There is strong demand for our products in China and we are focused on meeting the need of these highly discerning consumers," the spokesperson said.

"The current tensions with China are regrettable.

"We greatly value the longstanding relationship and trade ties we have with China."

Strategic Advisor to Natura Laura McBain established a flagship store for infant formula brand Nutura on Alibaba's Chinese-language Tmall last week, right before the Singles' Day promotion.

The former managing director of Bellamy's Organic said many people thought it was "a crazy time" to launch a new brand to enter into the China market, and she has been keeping her eyes on the trade tension between Australia and China.

"It would be remiss as a business person not to be contemplated of what's happening, and to be looking at and examining the issues that are happening between the two countries," Ms McBain told the ABC.

However, Ms McBain said she was confident in her trade relationship with Chinese partners, as China has been "opening ports and free trade ports" for CBEC, and the "fundamental" people-to-people link wasn't changed.

"If you look at it through that lens, then I think you can feel confident that Australian-made products … will do well, regardless of the geopolitical tensions," Ms McBain said.

"I feel confident in that landscape that we can set aside many of the concerns and just move forward."

Trade relations remain 'strong' and 'positive'

According to the official data released by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Chinese consumers spent over $38.6 billion on CBEC sales in 2019, with Australia accounting for 10.2 per cent of the total, making it the fourth-largest exporter in the sector.

The report showed Chinese consumers' demand for foreign products has continued to grow, with edible products, cosmetics and daily necessities covering nearly 73 per cent of the market.

Though the trade tensions between Australia and China have led to more Australian companies fearing they could be targeted, Mr Hunt said the States and Federal Government have set up divisions to support the regulatory, marketing and distribution of Australian products into the China market.

"I am not aware of the political tension across the CBEC landscape at this stage, there hasn't been any indication to that changing," Mr Hunt said.

"Brands can protect themselves by having a close relationship with Austrade, the local government … and also a close relationship with the platform."

Though the tensions have further worsened and more produce — including lobster, timber and wheat — has been affected, AustCham Shanghai, a peak body for Australian businesses operating in China, said commercial relations between Australia and China on other businesses remained "strong" and "positive".

"People-to-people relationships on the ground remain strong and we are positive about the future of commercial relations," Bede Payne, Executive Director from AustCham Shanghai told the ABC.

"We are keeping an eye on the situation and we are hopeful that any difficulties can be resolved."

"Australian brands have a reputation of being clean, green, and safe. General consumer demand for these types of products does not seem to have diminished in recent times."