Shane Warne broke Dennis Lillee's world record for the most wickets in a calendar year to trigger a South African batting collapse on the second day of the first test on Saturday.
Warne captured the wickets of AB de Villiers, Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher to take his tally this year to 87 and restrict the Proteas to 296 in reply to Australia's 258.
Australia were 38 for one in their second innings at the close, exactly level with South Africa.
Justin Langer was unbeaten on 15 with night-watchman Brett Lee yet to score after Matthew Hayden threw his wicket away in the last over of the day.
Hayden had raced to 20, comprised entirely of boundaries, before he skied an attempted pull shot off Charl Langeveldt that ended up in the gloves of wicketkeeper Mark Boucher.
Boucher also blazed 62 with the bat and shared a vital seventh wicket partnership of 77 with Shaun Pollock to ensure the South Africans led on the first innings after a mid-order batting collapse.
The tourists had been cruising along at 127-1 before lunch but lost five wickets for 60 before tea until Boucher and Pollock's rescue operation.
Warne bowled de Villiers for 68 to match Lillee's record of 85 wickets in 1981 then trapped Prince lbw for 28 to set his own benchmark.
Lee was also in devastating form, using his express pace to mop up the tail and finish with 5-93, while Glenn McGrath and left-arm paceman Nathan Bracken collected one each.
Bracken made the initial breakthrough before lunch when he removed South African captain Graeme Smith for 34, brilliantly caught by Ricky Ponting at second slip, while McGrath sent Justin Kemp packing with Brad Hodge taking the catch at mid-off.
Lee grabbed his first wicket in the second last over before lunch when he bowled Herschelle Gibbs for 21 then added Jacques Rudolph for eight in the middle session, caught by Langer at third slip.
He bowled Pollock for 34 after tea to break his stubborn partnership with Boucher then trapped Langeveldt lbw for a golden duck and had Makhaya Ntini caught behind for 12 to complete his sixth five-wicket haul in tests.

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AUSTRALIA (1st innings:
258 (R. Ponting 71; M. Ntini 5-64):
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South Africa (1st innings - Overnight: 38-0):
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A. de Villiers b Warne                     68
G. Smith c Ponting b Bracken               34
H. Gibbs b Lee                             21
J. Rudolph c Langer b Lee                   8
A. Prince  lbw b Warne                     28
J. Kemp  c Hodge b McGrath                  7
M. Boucher c Hayden b Warne                62
S. Pollock b Lee                           34
A. Nel not out                              4
C. Langeveldt  lbw b Lee                    0
M. Ntini c Hodge b Lee                     12
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EXTRAS: (B-4 LB-2 NB-12)                   18
TOTAL: (all out, 81.2 overs)              296
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Fall of wickets: 1-83 2-127 3-135 4-145 5-167 6-187 7-264 8-282 9-283.
Bowling: G. McGrath 18 - 3 - 59 - 1, B. Lee 22.2 - 1 - 93 - 5 (nb-11),N. Bracken 12 - 3 - 46 - 1, S. Warne 29 - 4 - 92 - 3.

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AUSTRALIA (2nd innings):
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J. Langer  not out                         15
M. Hayden  c Boucher b Langeveldt          20
B. Lee not out                              0
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EXTRAS: (nb-3)                              3
TOTAL: (for 1 wickets, 11 overs)           38
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FALL OF WICKET: 1-37
TO BAT: B. Hodge, M. Hussey, A. Symonds, A. Gilchrist, S. Warne, R. Ponting, N. Bracken, G. McGrath.
BOWLING: S. Pollock 5 - 1 - 12 - 0 (nb-1), M. Ntini 5 - 2 - 24 - 0, C. Langeveldt 1 - 0 - 2 - 1 (nb-2).