England suffered an innings and 14-run loss to Australia on Tuesday in Melbourne as Root's team surrendered the five-Test Ashes series with two Tests to spare.

Root, who was reluctant to discuss the long-term future of his captaincy after the Ashes defeat in the third test, has not won any of his three Ashes series in charge.

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The 30-year-old has also suffered a record nine defeats in 2021 as the captain.

Asked if the England team would support Root's continuation as skipper, Woakes said: "Absolutely.

"It's clear that the captaincy isn't having an effect on his batting, which a lot of the time with captains can be the case."

Root has proved a virtual lone hand with the bat and, after scoring 50 and 28 in Melbourne, he finishes the calendar year with 1,708 runs - the third-highest after Mohammad Yousuf (1,788) and Viv Richards (1,710).

"The fact that he's scoring the runs he is, is great for the team," Woakes added. "It would be great if we could help him out with that and build some partnerships with him, and score a few more runs around him.

"But Joe is a great cricketer, he's got a great cricket brain. I think his record as England captain is pretty good, as far as I'm aware. I definitely feel like Joe will continue."

Asked if coach Chris Silverwood also has the same support, Woakes added: "Who am I to talk about people's futures other than my own, to be brutally honest? We have two more games and we want to show a lot of character, a lot of fight.

"The group of players, the management and the staff we have out here have the backing of the players to hopefully put things right, over the next two games in particular."

The England board's chief executive Tom Harrison reportedly met Root in Melbourne on Wednesday to discuss the reasons behind the failing tour, but the board is said to be supportive of him staying on as captain.

Who could replace Root if he stepped down?

Were Joe Root to step down as England captain, Mark Butcher told Sky Sports News a figure like Nasser Hussain would be required, but the former batter cast his doubts over the current crop.

"As far as Root is concerned, you have to look around and think, 'Who would you give the captaincy to?'," Butcher added.

"I've been thinking of some names who could possibly take over. Ben Stokes is clearly one, but he's England's premium all-rounder playing in all three formats - is it really going to be beneficial towards his performances to take on the extra load as captain?

"He might say yes, but history suggests that's a difficult task to undertake. Just ask Andrew Flintoff.

"And then you're looking at people outside the team altogether. James Vince is captain of Hampshire, has experience of leading, and so you're almost looking outside the current crop of players.

"What England need at this point of time is somebody like Nasser Hussain, as he did in the late 1990s. He came in and demanded changes of the first-class system, demanded the ECB that he get what he wanted in terms of the way players prepare. And was then able to select players on character to stop the bleeding and build a team from there.

"Who is strong enough to have that character that is around at the moment? I have no idea I'm afraid."