The second seeds started strongly but were ultimately defeated in three sets 7-6 3-6 6-3 by third seeds Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei and Jeļena Ostapenko of Latvia.
In a gruelling semifinal which lasted two hours and 23 minutes, Routliffe and Dabrowski looked untouchable early on, before succumbing in Melbourne.
"It was an amazing atmosphere, I feel like we didn't play our best in the second set but in the third we just tried to play our game," the winning duo told media.
Having dropped all three first sets across their opening three rounds, Dabrowski and Routliffe were again forced to come from behind, but it was a furious battle in the opener.
Breezing through the opening three games in just twelve minutes, the pair soon found themselves in a tantalisingly tight contest.
Su-wei and Ostapenko would eventually fight their way to a tie break and prevail 7-3.
Dabrowski and Routliffe fought back in the second, running away with the second set 6-3 to force a third.
It was another shot for shot battle in the decider, but on the back end it was Su-wei and Ostapenko showing more accuracy and calm under pressure.
