Australia lost five more wickets in the afternoon to reach tea at 186-7 in its first innings, trailing England by 97 runs Friday on the second day of the final Ashes test.
Stuart Broad (2-31) needed five balls after lunch to claim the third Australian wicket and leave Australia on 115-3. Broad pinned Usman Khawaja leg before wicket for 47 and, despite the opener reviewing the out decision, the ball-tracker showed it would have hit leg stump. It brought Travis Head to the crease for an afternoon session that was braced to be more dramatic than a slow-moving morning.
Broad was on a roll now and Head feathered behind an edge to Jonny Bairstow on four to give England another wicket. It was Broad's 20th wicket of the series and left Australia on 127-4, still 156 runs behind England's total of 283.
James Anderson struck when Mitch Marsh played on for 16. Anderson, who had only four wickets in the series before this test, picked up a wicket with the fourth ball of his latest spell after Stokes brought him on from the Pavilion End for the first time in this match. Marsh got an inside edge that crashed into leg stump to leave Australia on 151-5 with Alex Carey joining Steve Smith at the crease.
Root got in on the act when Carey (10) spliced to Stokes, who claimed his 100th test catch for England in the process. Carey had just launched Root for six, but followed it up with a poor shot, chasing a wide delivery and sending it down Stokes' throat to reduce Australia to 170-6, still 113 runs behind England's first innings total.
England picked up another wicket when Mitchell Starc (7) pulled Wood to Ben Duckett, who made up good ground from backward square to take a smart catch. Starc had looked composed but walked off beaten by Wood's extra pace after an 18-ball innings.
Earlier, Australia went to lunch at 115-2 in a morning highlighted by a brilliant slip catch from Joe Root.
Root's one-handed grab to his left as the ball flew between him and wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow removed Marnus Labuschagne and gave England its only wicket before lunch.
Labuschagne faced 82 balls for his nine runs as Australia slowly chipped away at England's first-innings total.
England took 54.4 overs for its 283 all out. Australia was 130-4 after 54.4 overs.
Resuming on 61-1, Labuschagne and Khawaja's second-wicket partnership crawled to 42 from 156 balls before an edge from Labuschagne off fast bowler Mark Wood (2-37) prompted Root's spectacular diving catch.
Australia is in no rush but batting at half England's pace looks set to backfire if the wickets run out.
The Aussies lead the series 2-1 and have already retained the Ashes. They can win the series outright by avoiding defeat here.
England received an early blow on the second day when it was confirmed specialist spinner Moeen Ali would not field.
Moeen sustained a groin injury during his knock of 34 on day one and was not able to field during Australia's innings.