[6] The second half opened gingerly before Saudi Arabia kicked it into a higher gear on the hour mark, Hazazi breaking free down the inside left channel to win a penalty off defender Ren Hang who tackled one step too late.
North Korea's first AFC Asian Cup goal since November 1992 scored after 11 minutes from Ryang Yong-gi had given Jo Tong-sop's side hope of bouncing back from their opening defeat by Uzbekistan in Group B.
But after Naif Hazazi equalised for Saudi Arabia before half-time, Al Sahlawi's quick-fire double in the space of three second-half minutes and a late strike from Nawaf Al-Abed ensured Cosmin Olăroiu's side their first three points of the campaign having lost to China PR at the weekend and ended the quarter-final hopes of former semi-finalists North Korea.
With both sides seeking their first points of the campaign at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, North Korea made an aggressive start as Sim Hyon-jin was denied twice in quick succession by Waleed Abdullah, with the first from a dipping strike from the edge of the penalty area in the seventh minute and the second a glancing header from the resulting corner.
And Saudi Arabia equalised eight minutes before half-time as the Green Falcons quickly worked the ball across the edge of the penalty area for Al Abed to tee-up Hazazi, who fired low through the legs of Ri Myong-guk at his near post.
Al Sahlawi had a chance to seal his hat-trick with 19 minutes remaining, but after racing clear of the North Korea backline and with only Ri Myong-guk to beat, the striker poked his effort wide shortly before being substituted.
Striker Gao Lin set things up with a dazzling assist from the right by-line, flicking the ball into the path of Wu who atoned for his first-half deflection by firing home into the bottom left corner to make it 1–1.
[16] China were in the ascendancy, and twice came close to extending their advantage, defender Zhang Linpeng missing a completely free shot from the centre of the penalty area and Sun failing to put away a second in a one-on-one with Nesterov.
And it was one of their replacements who handed Uzbekistan the ideal start inside 90 seconds as Rashidov charged into the penalty area following poor defending by Saudi Arabia, coupled with a fortunate deflection, before coolly guiding his strike through the legs of goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah at his near post.
The tight nature of the contest continued at the start of the second half, although despite Uzbekistan enjoying the greater share of possession, Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Abdullah was also enjoying a quiet evening following the early goal but the game suddenly swung Saudi Arabia's way on the hour mark as Al-Sahlawi confidently beat Nesterov from the penalty spot after Vitaliy Denisov had been adjudged to have bundled over Naif Hazazi inside the area as the pair challenged to meet Abdullah Al-Zori's left-wing cross.
[24] A Gao Lin own-goal did see North Korea pull one back and So Hyon-uk hit the frame of the goal late on as the Chollima pressed hard for an equaliser, but China were eventually able to see out the third straight win of their campaign.
Both sides had entered the final round of fixtures with their destiny's already confirmed with China guaranteed to top the table following wins over Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, while North Korea's campaign had been prematurely ended following defeats by the same opposition.
Pak Kwang-ryong's cross reached Jong in the right-hand side of the area and although the striker's shot was blocked on the line by Zhang Linpeng, the defender's attempted clearance ricocheted off the back of the unsuspecting Gao and into the net.
North Korea continued their second half renaissance and on the 81st minute a scooped pass from Sim Hyon-jin was met on the volley from So and his pile-driver from 25 yards out hit the crossbar at full force with Wang beaten.