Henry Hunt stands in the way of Victoria, who require four wickets in the final session of their Sheffield Shield opener for victory against South Australia.
The Vics engineered wickets at regular intervals during a grinding middle session at Adelaide's Karen Rolton Oval.
But the hosts are digging in behind unbeaten opener Hunt (65 off 206), reaching 6-154 at the tea break.
SA resumed on Sunday at 0-38 requiring a further 387 runs to pull off an unlikely win.
Three wickets in each session extinguished hope of a successful chase, debutant Fergus O'Neill (2-22) taking the key wickets of Test pair Travis Head and Alex Carey.
Head flayed at a drive but picked out short cover, while Carey's grinding innings (two off 38 balls) was ended when wicketkeeper Sam Harper snaffled an edge while standing up to the stumps.
Allrounder Nathan McSweeney then flayed a wide, loopy Jon Holland full-toss to backward point to open up the tail.
Scott Boland (2-34) has also put the clamps on, ending Jake Weatherald's bright innings on 53 off 70 balls to set the day's tone.
Victoria were in their strong position thanks to Peter Handscomb's 132 - his 18th first class century - on Saturday.
