Not long ago in this Cape Town Test, Australia looked like they'd signed their own death warrant when Pat Cummins chose to bowl first in pristine conditions. But the tables flipped as the game progressed, placing it now slightly in the visiting team's favour following a gripping third day's play. At stumps, South Africa finished 40 ahead but also four down in their second innings.

Australia had already recovered from the supposed misstep at the toss on that opening day courtesy South Africa's questionable shot-making. South Africa made it past 300 but Australia then went on to establish their footing over the next 125.1 overs. They began the third day on 330/4, a run ahead of South Africa's first-innings effort. Josh Inglis added 15 runs to his overnight score to reach what was just his second ton in Test cricket. But in the same over, Simon Harmer took him out with a flighted ball outside the off-stump, luring him in to nick behind.

Alex Carey, Inglis's overnight batting partner, intended to keep going but was stopped in his tracks by Harmer, in his next over. He got Carey to prod at another tossed up ball outside the off-stump and Aiden Markram took a neat catch at slip. Kagiso Rabada swung into action right away, trapping Pat Cummins leg before, while Gerald Coetzee had Mitchell Starc caught behind shortly after, for his first wicket of the game.

Australia went to lunch at 411/8, already ahead by 82 runs. Nathan Lyon tried to stick around with Cooper Connolly but was eventually snuffed out after the break for a 25-ball one by Wiaan Mulder. Just four balls later, Marco Jansen wrapped up the innings with a caught and bowled dismissal of Connolly. Australia's innings ended on 429 - exactly 100 ahead - and in the knowledge of an encouraging statistic: no team has lost a Test in South Africa after scoring more than 420 runs in their first innings.

The stat alone wasn't enough to put the squeeze on the hosts. Starc and Josh Hazlewood took on some of the responsibility to shake up South Africa early. Aiden Markram will perhaps share some of the blame for the first breakthrough as he tamely hit a full ball from the left-armer to Travis Head at cover in the third over. Hazlewood then bounced out David Bedingham to push South Africa to 31/2.

Temba Bavuma and opener Marques Ackerman pushed back by batting together for more than 20 overs. Then came Starc, and his searing 139kmph bouncer. It caught Ackerman by surprise, rising on him at pace. It took a slight deflection off the splice of the bat, hit him on the helmet and then carried to Cameron Green at slip. Ackerman was told by the umpires to head back as he ran out of time to take his review, but it wouldn't have mattered even if he had taken it.

Bavuma then kickstarted another alliance, this time with Matthew Breetzke in the hope of seeing out what was left of the day. They nearly did, batting together for more than 100 deliveries, but Nathan Lyon got the better of the South African captain towards the end. In the penultimate over of the day, Bavuma was undone by the dip as he missed an attempted flick and had his stumps broken.

Australia would've headed back at stumps feeling closer to a series victory than the hosts. But South Africa have brought batting resilience before in this series. If they could channel that again, there might just be room for more table flips before the curtains come down on the Test and the series.

Brief Scores: South Africa 329 & 140/4 (Marques Ackerman 62; Mitchell Starc 2-29) lead Australia 429 (Josh Inglis 102, Alex Carey 80, Cameron Green 65; Simon Harmer 4-104, Marco Jansen 3-60) by 40 runs