Joe Root and Ben Stokes are fighting hard in their attempt to avoid an Ashes whitewash, having helped England reach 3-122 at lunch on the final day of the fourth Test.
The tourists resumed at 0-30 on Sunday, having been set a target of 388 at the SCG after Usman Khawaja scored his second century of the match.
Root and Stokes, unbeaten on 13 and 16 respectively, have so far exhibited the sort of diligence expected from England's two best batters.
Stokes, batting with a side injury, has largely shelved his aggression.
The talismanic allrounder was dropped on 16 by Marcus Harris in the penultimate over of the morning session.
Stokes prodded a delivery from Pat Cummins straight into Harris' bread basket at short leg.
There are 56 overs remaining in the Test, with a rain delay after lunch shortening the day's play by seven overs.
Play resumed at 2.10pm AEDT.
Australia hold an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-Test series.
The hosts were denied a 5-0 series win in 2017-18 after England drew the fourth Test, played on an incredibly docile MCG pitch.
Haseeb Hameed, having negotiated 11 overs on day four after Pat Cummins' declaration, batted through to Sunday's ninth over.
Hammed was dropped on nine, when wicketkeeper Alex Carey grassed a diving catch.
But the out-of-form opener offered another edge to Carey while on the same score, handing Scott Boland his fifth wicket of the Test.
Dawid Malan's stint at the crease spanned 29 balls, ending inelegantly when he played back to a delivery from Nathan Lyon that kept low and disturbed off stump.
Zak Crawley's resistance, ended when trapped lbw by Cameron Green, was far more entertaining in his quickfire knock of 77.
Crawley put away almost every bad ball he faced, stroking 13 boundaries.
Khawaja forecast a day-five slog for Australia's attack.
"Fingers crossed we get some good weather because we probably need all those 98 overs that we have," the 35-year-old said after day four.
"It's going to be a bit of a grind."
