Australia has seven wickets in hand after the penultimate day of its tour of South Africa, with three sessions to survive for a draw after the hosts batted them out of the fourth Test in Johannesburg.
Peter Handscomb (23 not out) and Shaun Marsh (7 not out) will resume their innings on day five after bad light once again stopped play before the minimum overs required had been bowled, with Australia 3-88.
On day four, Faf du Plessis notched his only century in an otherwise lean series and kept his batsmen at the crease until they built an outlandish 611-run lead.
It seemed Du Plessis delayed his inevitable declaration because Morne Morkel has a side strain, Vernon Philander has ongoing groin issues and Kagiso Rabada was revealed to be struggling with a "stiff lower back".
The captain's 120 highlighted his side's second innings, with opener Dean Elgar compiling 81 runs in a gritty but at times painfully slow 337-ball knock.
They helped the team reach 6-344 before the declaration came during the tea break.
Australia's watchful opening partnership came to an end in its 13th over when Matt Renshaw (5) was trapped in front by the injured and retiring Morkel (2-18).
First drop Usman Khawaja (7) was LBW to Keshav Maharaj after failing to play a stroke — although he tried to argue that he had.
Morkel then removed Joe Burns (42) in similar fashion to his opening partner — caught plumb LBW while trying to whip off his pads.
Look back at how day four of the fourth Test played out in our live blog.
