Australia captain Michael Clarke made 187, his highest Test score against England, as the tourists maintained their grip on the third Ashes match at Manchester's Old Trafford ground on Friday.
At tea on the second day, Australia, who won the toss, were 507/7 in a match they had to win to stand any chance of regaining the Ashes after falling 2-0 behind in the five-match series.
Brad Haddin, dropped on 10, was 57 not out and Mitchell Starc 54 not out as Australia continued to pile on the runs even after Clarke was out.
Australia came into this match on the back of six straight Test defeats —their worst run of results since 1984. Clarke, rather like Allan Border at the start of the Australia great's captaincy career in the mid-1980s, has spent much of his time in charge knowing that if he doesn't make a major score, few of his top-order colleagues are likely to do just that.
Yet this was his 10th century in 27 Tests as captain, with his average as skipper of 65.15 well above his career mark of 52.52. England's attack was led by Graeme Swann, the off-spinner's figures of five for 149 in 41 overs.
SCORECARD (at tea)
Australia (1st Innings): Shane Watson c Cook b Bresnan 19, Chris Rogers lbw b Swann 84, Usman Khawaja c Prior b Swann 1, Michael Clarke b Broad 187, Steve Smith c Bairstow b Swann 89, David Warner c Trott b Swann 5, Brad Haddin (batting) 57, Peter Siddle b Swann 1, Mitchell Starc (batting) 54. Extras: (6lb, 2w, 2nb) 10. Total: (for 7 wkts, in 142 overs) 507.
FoW: 1-76, 2-82, 3-129, 4-343, 5-365, 6-427, 7-430.
Bowling: James Anderson 33-6-116-0, Stuart Broad 33-6-108-1, Tim Bresnan 32-6-114-1, Graeme Swann 41-2-149-5, Joe Root 2-0-8-0, Jonathan Trott 1-0-6-0.