There are two versions avaiable in Australia (M15+ and R18+). -The R-rated (and very rare) version contains more footage of Wez pulling the arrow from his arm including a close-up shot where the arrow can be seen poking through his arm and out the other side, and remains in close-up as he begins pulling the arrow through and out. The M15+ version cuts to a long shot after a very quick shot of the arrow in Wez's arm.
The rape and execution of the female driver as seen through the jiro captain's telescope is longer and more explicit
The shot of the two lovers in the tent that is torn away by Max in the truck is in normal speed, rather than fast motion as it is in the M15+ version.
There are two different voiceover versions for the beginning montage of the film. One is an Australian voiceover and the other American. The dialogue is also changed somewhat e.g. the Australian voiceover says, "...men like Max, the warrior Max, in the roar of an engine he lost everything. And became a shell of a man, a burnt out desolate man, haunted by the demons of his past. A man who wandered out into the wastelands and it was here in this blighted place, that he learned to live again," while the American voiceover says, "men like Max, who roamed the highways in the name of the law, who became a lover, husband, father, in the roar of an engine he lost everything, his woman, his child, his world. He wandered out into the wastelands. And here he would learn, that beyond the world of ? and machines, hope survives."
In some versions, Papagalo's speech from the scaffolding (after Humongous tells them all to "just walk away") is longer. eg. "And what then...?" (extra dialogue = We wander the wastelands and become like them, savages?) "But the first step, defend the fuel." (extra dialogue = and I stay, alone if I have to. I'll leave them nothing, that I promise!)
The r-18 true version was released once on Australian PAL VHS