Cao qualified for the second ranking event of the season, the Australian Goldfields Open, by beating Paul Davison, Alfie Burden and Mike Dunn all by 5–2 scorelines.&lt;ref name="2012/13"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; He received a bye in the final qualifying round due to Anthony Hamilton's withdrawal, and then came through a wild-card match against Johl Younger once in Australia to reach the last 32. He faced Ali Carter and raced into a 4–0 lead, before withstanding a fightback, eventually going on to win 5–3. Cao was beaten 5–4 by Martin Gould in the second round, without there ever being more than a frame between the players. He made a 143 break in the sixth frame, the highest of his career to date. A month later, Cao won three qualifying matches to reach the International Championship, played in Chengdu, in his homeland. He saw off Wang Yuchen in the wild-card round, before beating four-time world champion John Higgins in the first round, to set up a rematch with Mark Allen, following their clash at the end of last season. It was Allen who triumphed this time, with a 6–2 win.