Caged eggs will be phased out across all Australian McDonald's restaurants by the end of 2017. The company also gave a commitment to be transparent with customers about where its eggs came from in the future.

McDonald's, which uses more than 91 million eggs a year in Australia, has already stopped sourcing caged eggs in Britain and Europe.

"McDonald's is working towards a move to cage-free eggs with our suppliers," spokeswoman Skye Oxenham-Lupul said. "We will ensure that Aussie farmers will be able to continue to supply us for the long term and that our customers clearly understand where our eggs are sourced from.

"We will share more details on our plans to move to cage-free eggs by the end of 2017 as part of our broader animal welfare initiative to be announced in the coming weeks."

The decision to dump caged eggs was announced as McDonald's came under mounting pressure about the living conditions of battery hens after a long-running campaign by Animals Australia.

In June, Animals Australia called for people to flood McDonald's with messages of support for cage-free eggs on social media. That was followed by a video compilation posted last month featuring children pleading with the fast-food company to stop using caged eggs.

In welcoming the announcement, Animals Australia called on other fast-food chains to stop using caged eggs.

"Australians overwhelmingly made their views known to McDonald's that their use of cage eggs was no longer acceptable," campaign director Lyn White said.

"Increasingly, we are seeing consumers making purchasing decisions that ensure they are not financially underpinning animal cruelty, and it is terrific to now see companies similarly recognising their responsibility to do so.

"The day to celebrate will be when not a single egg from a battery hen is in a McDonald's meal."

A statement posted on McDonald's Australia's Facebook page announcing the move has attracted more than 4600 likes.