US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have toasted their shared stand on Israel, Ukraine and China during a lavish state visit aimed at deepening their countries’ century-old alliance.

“The alliance between Australia and the United States is an anchor to peace and prosperity,” the 80-year-old president said during a day of pomp and ceremony at the White House.

In the evening Biden treated Albanese, 60, to a gala dinner in a giant marquee erected on the South Lawn, with guests from the worlds of entertainment, business and technology.

The visit underscored the importance Washington places on longtime ally Australia as a cornerstone of its strategy against an increasingly assertive Beijing in the Asia-Pacific region.

“A great deal of the history of our world will be written in the Indo-Pacific in the coming years,” Biden said, using the allies’ term for the region. “Australia and the United States must write that story together.”

Standing on a stage backed by giant images of flowers, the two leaders raised their glasses to toast what Biden called “mateship”, a reference to the traditional Australian term “mate”.