The Wallabies led 21-12 at halftime of Saturday night's blockbuster, before conceding the next 30 points on the way to their sixth consecutive Test loss.
Meredith was thrust in as the starting 10 after Carter Gordon and Ben Donaldson were cut down by calf injuries.
It meant Jock Campbell, ordinarily a fullback or wing, started on the bench as Meredith's flyhalf back-up.
Meredith displayed his class in patches in the first half, but also had a couple of glaring errors.
His kick for touch in the 15th minute was a shank.
But his biggest mistake came three minutes later when he couldn't scramble back quickly enough to collect a dribbling ball, allowing French winger Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang to muscle in to score the try.
France had Romain Ntamack playing at 10 and another flyhalf - Matthieu Jalibert - playing at 15, giving them plenty of creativity.
The Six Nations champions dominated the second half, scoring two tries while Wallabies fullback Tom Wright was in the sin bin following his 51st-minute yellow card.
Meredith battled hard but couldn't find the space needed to put his fingerprints on the game, before being replaced by Campbell in the 58th minute.
"I think very tough night for Declan up against two world-class 10s playing 10 and 15 in the opposition," Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt said.
"So a real baptism of fire for him, and he acquitted himself really well in the first half.
"And then he was starting to flag, and we put Jock in there.
"He (Jock) is a fullback, a part-time 10, and that's very tough for Jock as well.
"So we'll have a look at how we can put the best team we can together for next week (against Italy), and at the same time probably freshen things up a little bit because there's some pretty tired boys after tonight."
Wallabies flanker Fraser McReight, who scored two first-half tries, praised Meredith for his performance.
"It was really special for him, and obviously he directed us really well around the park for the first 40," McReight told Stan.
"And at times when we lost Wright there, he had to drop back in the back field and he just got challenged a little bit.
"But man, I thought he was really good, and I'm really stoked for him."
Meredith, 27, said there were some tears in his eyes while listening to the national anthem before the match.
"It's a great honour to wear this jersey and be a part of such a great team," he said.
"It's a boyhood dream come true. It's great to be part of."
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