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Australia's Emily Seebohm, Emma McKeon and sisters Bronte and Cate Campbell clocked a meet record three minutes, 31.48 seconds on Sunday night to turn around what loomed as a disastrous first day in Kazan.
Jess Ashwood opened the team medal tally with 400m freestyle bronze.
Verhaeren appeared livid over the Australian men's horror start to the eight-day meet.
World champion Christian Sprenger (100m breaststroke), world No.1 Mack Horton (400m freestyle), and the fancied men's 4x100m freestyle relay team failed to qualify for their respective finals. "It's a world championships and you don't get away with an easy swim ... you have to step up," Verhaeren said of the men's shocker.
However, he was all smiles after Bronte Campbell's sizzling 51.77 third leg set up her sister and world 100m champ Cate to comfortably bring home the women's relay win.
Australia - the world record holders with 3:30.98 - avenged their 2013 world titles silver finish behind the US.
"To come second (in 2013) was amazing, but to stand together on the podium and sing the national anthem with your big sister is something not many get to do. It's my highlight of the year," Bronte Campbell said.
The Netherlands (3:33.67) took silver and defending champions the US bronze (3:34.61).
Ashwood, 22, claimed 400m bronze (4:03.34 PB) behind American defending champion and world record holder Katie Ledecky (3:59.13, meet record).
Ashwood, who suffers from severe scoliosis or curvature of the spine, won Australia's first 400m freestyle world championship medal since Hayley Lewis in Perth in 1991.
Meanwhile, McKeon (6th; 57.59) made Monday's women's 100m butterfly final, unlike compatriot Madeline Groves (11th; 58.17).
But the one to beat is Swede Sarah Sjostrom (55.74), who set a new world record in Sunday's semis, eclipsing American Dana Vollmer's 2012 mark (55.98).
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