Captain Ricky Ponting has vowed to go for the jugular of a Pakistan team that he believes is beginning to show the strain of Australia's non-stop pressure this summer as the visitors ended day two of the third Test at Bellerive in disastrous shape.
On an historic day for Ponting as he scored his first double century on his home ground and shared in a record-breaking fourth-wicket partnership with Michael Clarke, Pakistan continued to self-destruct after opener Salman Butt incredibly ran out his team's two best batsmen in skipper Mohammad Yousuf and young gun Umar Akmal in the last half an hour of play.
That left Pakistan at 4-94 in reply to the home side's 8-519 and still needing another 226 runs just to avoid the follow-on as it bids to prevent a record 12th successive Test defeat at the hands of Australia.
And while Ponting has been reluctant to enforce the follow-on during his long captaincy, he admitted after stumps on Friday that he will do so if given the chance in Hobart - particularly with rain forecast for the last three days of the match.
"We certainly will now after getting the wickets we got tonight," Ponting said when asked about his thoughts of possibly enforcing the follow-on.
"But let's hope the rain doesn't come because it could spoil what could turn out to be a really good Test match if we lose a lot of time."
Ponting said Pakistan's two costly run-outs late in the day were a tribute to Australia's much-improved fielding.
"To get two run-outs in Test cricket is a result of a lot of pressure and often some good fielding and bowling," he said.
"We are getting our fielding on track after a sloppy start to the summer and when you are doing that and you are fielding well it does create that extra pressure, which can be vital to the outcome of a Test match and Test series."
As for his own performance with the bat, Ponting was delighted to end his recent form slump as he almost scored as many runs in one innings - 209 - as he had done coming into this match given he had scored just 217 runs at 26 in five Tests for the summer.
It was Ponting's fifth double century, his fourth in Australia, his first in Hobart and his second against Pakistan and his total of double centuries is second only to the incomparable Don Bradman, who scored 12, amongst Australian players.
"I won't be scoring 12 double centuries, that's for sure," Ponting joked after play.
"But I knew I was struggling for runs and needed a big innings soon so to get that here when it was really needed was nice."
Ponting also paid credit to Clarke, who produced his highest Test score of 166, as the pair shared in a 352-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
That was the second-highest ever by Australia for the fourth wicket in Test cricket behind the 388 scored by Australia's two greatest ever batsmen, Bradman and Bill Ponsford, against England in 1934.
"It's his highest score and I knew he made that 150 on debut so today when he got close to that score I was urging him along to make sure he went past that total," Ponting said of Clarke.
"We obviously shared in a great partnership and it was nice to spend that time together because we actually haven't shared that many big partnerships together in Test cricket."