Taking to the ice ahead of the opening ceremony on Friday night, the Australians mixed pair suffered their second straight 6-5 loss, falling to China on Thursday morning.

They started their maiden Olympic campaign at the reconfigured Water Cube, which hosted swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics, with a final-stone defeat to the United States late on Wednesday night.

Against the hosts, the Australian duo trailed 6-4 at the final end but Gill opted for a take-out on the last stone - known as the hammer - rather than a draw to try and win the match, with the high-risk move failing to pay off.

China led 4-1 at the fifth end but Australia used their powerplay in the sixth with a pin-point draw from Gill seeing them collect three points to draw level.

The Chinese team of Ling Zhi and Fan Su Yuan struck back at the next end to take two points and regain the lead 6-4, with the Australians needing to take at three in the final end for their first Olympic victory.

It's China's second successive win after a shock defeat of 2018 PyeongChang silver medallists Switzerland in round one.

The first Australians curlers ever to qualify, Gill and Hewitt fell by the same scoreline in their opening rubber against American duo Chris Plys and Vicky Persinger on Wednesday night.

In another nail-biting climax, with the teams locked at 5-5 heading into the final end, Team USA were able to earn a 'steal' for the winning point and a 6-5 victory after Gill missed an opportunity with the hammer to seal the win.

Gill and Hewitt had endured an interrupted build-up to their first Games appearance after 22-year-old Gill tested positive to COVID-19 on her arrival at Beijing Airport.

The pair were put into isolation for two days over the weekend before subsequent tests cleared Gill to compete, with the positive test a result of an infection last month.

In the round-robin competition, all 10 teams compete against each other and the top four qualify for the semi-finals.

After their loss to the Americans, Hewitt was philosophical.

"You win some, you lose some - but onto the next game now," Hewitt said.

"The result didn't pan out our way, but it was a pretty good game, it was close all the way and that's what we like to do - we brought it down to the last shot."

The 27-year-old from Melbourne was soaking up his history-making Olympic experience, competing at the same venue where superstar swimmer Michael Phelps won eight golds medals in 2008.

"That's incredible. Once an Olympian, always an Olympian. That's so special," Hewitt said.

"It's amazing, I think it's the best venue I've ever played at. Really cool spot."

Australian Associated Press