An unbeaten century stand by Azhar Ali and Younis Khan on Wednesday rallied Pakistan from a dire start to be 126-2 at stumps on day two at the Sydney Cricket Ground, still trailing Australia by 412 runs but with renewed hope of avoiding the follow-on.
Half-centuries by Younis (64 not out) and Azhar (58 not out) steadied the innings after Josh Hazelwood took two wickets in an over soon after Australia captain Steve Smith had declared at 538-8 just before tea. Peter Handscomb joined openers David Warner (113) and Matt Renshaw (184) as centurions for the hosts, scoring 110 for his second test ton in four matches, and some big hitting late in the innings by Matt Wade and Mitchell Starc lifted the score over 500.
A rout similar to last week's capitulation by Pakistan on the final day of the second test at Melbourne looked increasingly likely when Hazelwood made his double strike. Hazelwood first removed Sharjeel Khan caught at slip by Renshaw for four and then trapped Babar Azam lbw for a duck four balls later to leave the visitors at 6-2 and with a steep climb required to avoid a series clean sweep.
Younis' half-century came off 98 balls with seven boundaries as the 114-match veteran batsman found the type of form that has him nearing 10,000 test runs.
Azhar brought up his second fifty of the tour, to go with his 205 not out in the second test at Melbourne, with an edge through gully in the final moments before stumps. Earlier, Handscomb raised his century after lunch with a single off spinner Yasir Shah. Handscomb's ton came off 195 balls with nine boundaries.
Smith declared the host's innings when Mitchell Starc (16) holed out to the deep off Azhar as Australia chased quick runs.
In the morning session, Renshaw's bid to become the youngest Australian to score a test double-century fell 16 runs short when when he played on to his own stumps from a rising Imran delivery
The 20-year-old was attempting to become the youngest Australian to reach 200, a mark Don Bradman reached three times when aged 21 years.