On a pitch that offered nothing for the Aussie quicks, and only a little for the spinners, AB de Villiers and JP Duminy made centuries at St. George's Park to back up first-day half-centuries by Dean Elgar and Faf du Plessis.
South Africa was bowled out straight after tea on the second day as offpsinner Nathan Lyon took 5-130.
De Villiers' 116 was his sixth century and 12th score over 50 in his last 12 matches. Duminy top-scored with 123 and reached three figures in the second session with a powerful sweep that raced to the square leg fence as South Africa built a solid first-innings score after picking seven specialist batsmen and jumping at the chance to bat first in a crucial game for its chances of fighting back in the series.
De Villiers and Duminy combined for 149 for the sixth wicket after South Africa was 214-5 overnight. Australia's spinners were the only wicket-takers in the two-and-a-bit sessions the tourists bowled on Friday on the unresponsive pitch, with off-break bowler Lyon leading with his five-for and removing De Villiers and Duminy.
Lyon caught De Villiers off his own bowling and had Duminy lbw trying a reverse sweep straight after tea to limit the damage to an extent. Australia's spinner bowled 46 of the 150.5 overs in the innings.
Morne Morkel was run out for the last wicket.
Captain Michael Clarke also picked up Vernon Philander for 6, caught and bowled with his part-time offspin, but left-arm quick Mitchell Johnson and the pacemen didn't taken a wicket in around 145 overs, an indication that the pitch heavily favors the batsmen.
Still, South Africa had to fight to get out of the trouble it found itself at the end of the first day at 214-5, with De Villiers again leading his team to safety with his golden run of form. He's made six centuries and six half-centuries in 18 innings over 12 Tests dating to November 2012, taking him to the top of the Test batting rankings.
Clarke tried seven bowlers, including himself, legspinner Steve Smith and part-time seamer David Warner along with the front-line attack, and also threw up some inventive fields to try and force a mistake from the batsmen. At one point, he had four fielders in catching positions in the midwicket region to De Villiers, who merely clipped the ball over their heads for a six to go along with his 14 fours.
Even with the heavy cloud cover throughout most of the first two days, there has been precious little swing or seam since Johnson removed Hashim Amla lbw in the sixth over of the match to have South Africa 11-2.
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