The first of the AS 3600 standard series, Australian Standard for Concrete Structures AS 3600-1988 was published in March 1988. It was a unified code for providing design guides for reinforced and prestressed concrete structures. Since then, AS 3600 has been revised four times and published consecutively at between six to nine-year intervals as AS 3600-1994, AS 3600-2001, AS 3600-2009 and the latest, AS 3600-2018. The changes and/or updates made in AS 3600-2018 are mainly in the following requirements: Values of capacity reduction factor, for different strengths of reinforced and prestressed members Stress-block configuration for the analysis and design of reinforced and pre- stressed members in bending Shear and torsional strengths of reinforced and prestressed members Effective moment of inertia for deflection calculation of reinforced and pre- stressed members Examples illustrating the application of the relevant new design procedures and formulas have been worked out in detail and presented elsewhere by the authors. Being a rather mature discipline, research worldwide on the mechanics and strength of concrete structures is sustaining a state of diminishing return. Australia is no exception. In particular, much of the abovementioned modifications have resulted in more complicated procedures and computational efforts. Academically, such added complexity might be considered as a disciplinary upgrade. On the other hand, the practitioners definitely deserve to be advised of the effectiveness, or worthiness, of such an advance. In each of the concerned topics, analysis and design calculations have been carried out using the updated specifications given in AS 3600-2018, as well as those available in the superseded AS 3600-2009. Based on the numerical data and design outcomes, observations are made in this paper in regard to the complexity and effectiveness of this Australia’s premier concrete structures code.