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Argentina needed to win by 93 points to lift the trophy, but a high-scoring match was never in sight on a muggy night of constant rain in Sydney.
Instead, they notably ended up in 16-16, fifteen days after they failed to separate in a crash of 15 to all.
Hodge could have won the game, but he sent his 45-meter-wide kick with a minute left, just as he did in the closing seconds of his tied game two weeks ago.
“We are not happy with the performance, we are disappointed that we couldn’t get a win in our last match,” Australia captain Michael Hooper said.
“It was tough conditions tonight. I think we were smart with our kicks there, we won the turf battle but we just couldn’t convert.”
Australia’s discipline again disappointed them in the first half with Argentina going into halftime 13-6 up front, scoring 10 points when Wallabies captain Michael Hooper was in the sin-bin for a high inning.
Lukhan Salakaia-Loto was sent off with 20 minutes to go, but the Wallabies dug deep to save face.
“We showed a lot of character tonight, seven points down and down to 14 men. We controlled it pretty well and we played in the right areas of the role and we were rewarded,” Wallabies coach Dave Rennie said.
The entertaining clash completed a Southern Hemisphere tournament reduced to three teams after world champion South Africa withdrew due to coronavirus problems.
The tie ensured Argentina finished the tournament in second place, culminating a momentous tour of Mario Ledesma’s men who endured lockdowns and a host of Covid-19 cases before upsetting New Zealand and then drawing with Australia a fortnight ago.
The Wallabies took the wooden spoon in a bad ending during Rennie’s first year in charge, which has seen them win only once.
It was a fighting effort by the Pumas, whose preparation was interrupted by the tweet scandal.
Matera, second-row Guido Petti and replacement hooker Santiago Socino were suspended after “discriminatory and xenophobic” comments emerged from years ago, before a U-turn saw them reinstated on Friday.
The posts came after criticism that the Pumas failed to adequately pay tribute to Argentine soccer icon Diego Maradona, who died last month before last weekend’s loss to the All Blacks.
They all wore a number 10 on the sleeve of their t-shirts on Saturday, in honor of Maradona, and were clearly enthusiastic.
With playmaker James O’Connor back to lead the attack, the Wallabies enjoyed plenty of early possession and their pressure paid off when Pumas blocking Marcos Kremer received a yellow card in the 15th minute for a dangerous clean-up. .
It proved costly, with Hodge converting the resulting penalty.
But the lead lasted just a minute with Argentine flier Nicolás Sánchez’s golden boot equalizing the score after an error by Matt Philip at the restart.
Just as Kremer returned to the field, Hooper was sent to the trash for a similar offense after crushing Sanchez with a high shot.
It marked a change of momentum with the Pumas taking the lead when Domingo Miotti, while Sanchez received attention, nailed a penalty after another error by Philip.
Felipe Ezcurra then made a break on the blind side of a maul and released winger Bautista Delguy, who fought back against Hunter Paisami before diving for his first attempt in three tests.
Miotti converted to lead 13-3 until another Hodge penalty on the halftime horn returned three points to the hosts.
Hodge kicked another after the restart to narrow the gap, but then Salakaia-Loto saw red for a dangerous tackle and looked around at the Wallabies.
But Australia refused to give up and Hooper broke into an attempt from a lineout with Hodge converting to level the scores at 16-16 and set up an exciting finish.
