The Brumbies attack clicked for the first time this season as they balanced shots at goal and when to spread the ball wide perfectly.
The Brumbies were twice reduced to 14 men but they refused to let the game slip, with Lealiifano praising his side's determination to grind out the win.
"It was nice reward for the constant belief in what we're doing, it's still early in the year and we're still working hard but tonight was a gutsy effort and it's nice to get a good start at home," Lealiifano said.
"Wharenui was absolutely outstanding, he controlled the game really well and was confident the whole way through and that's what I really like about his growth this year."
"It was a good sign of our resilience [to win after two sinbins], yellow cards are never something we want in the game, but you have to adapt and we didn't last week, so it was nice to see that learning come in this week."
It was all the Brumbies early with 75 per cent of possession in the opening 20 minutes and Hawera got the home side on the board first with a monster 52-metre penalty.
The sustained pressure was eventually rewarded with a try after Muirhead hit Taliauli who crossed in the corner on 17 minutes.
Hawera nailed the conversion as the Brumbies raced out to a 10-0 lead, but a string of ill-discipline at the breakdown invited the Sharks back into the game.
Robert du Preez got the visitors on the scoreboard with a penalty on 31 minutes. The Brumbies marched back down field but a pair of knock ons from Taliauli extinguished any chance of scoring.
On the back five straight penalties referee Glenn Jackson reached into his pocket and sin-binned Brumbies flanker Lachlan McCaffrey for hands in the ruck on 36 minutes.
But the Sharks couldn't make them pay with the man advantage as the Brumbies forwards responded with an enormous scrum to earn a tighthead penalty.
They almost crossed for a second try on the stroke of half-time when Muirhead found space down the right flank, but Tom Cusack coughed it up.
McCaffrey returned after the break and with his first touch of the ball put Henry Speight in for the Brumbies second.
Halfback Joe Powell made a sharp break inside the 22m before McCaffrey burst down the right wing and dummy-switched with Tevita Kuridrani before putting Speight over in the corner.
Just when they looked to be gaining the ascendancy the Brumbies lost another to the bin after collapsing consecutive mauls and it was prop Allan Alaalatoa who was given his march orders.
The Sharks were held up twice but the Brumbies couldn't repel the third wave as tighthead Thomas du Toit finally got the ball down from a strong pick and drive.
But the ACT men refused to drop their heads and worked their way back into Sharks territory, before earning a penalty and Hawera extended the lead to eight points.
The Brumbies went back to 15 men and Hawera hit another monster penalty from half way to the delight of the home crowd.
Hawera slotted one more to his tally, before Curwin Bosch scored late to make it a tense finish but the Brumbies held on.
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AT A GLANCE:
ACT BRUMBIES 24 (tries; Lausi, Speight, cons; Hawera 1, pens; Hawera 4 ) DURBAN SHARKS 17 (tries du Toit, Bosch, pens; cons; du Preez) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: Glenn Jackson. Crowd: 8122
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Eamonn Tiernan is a sports reporter with The Canberra Times
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