Victoria has set Queensland the improbable task of scoring 640 runs in 100 overs to win the Sheffield Shield final at the MCG.
Bushrangers skipper Cameron White could safely have closed his team's innings at any time during a four-hour window on Saturday, but left it until 45 minutes before the scheduled finish before declaring at 8-591.
Playing in just his second match at Shield level, rookie Cameron Boyce claimed the bowling honours for the Bulls with 6-181 from 44 overs.
The 20-year-old leg-spinner, who picked up the wickets of Bushrangers openers Rob Quiney and Nick Jewell on day three, grabbed four more on Saturday and was the only Queensland bowler to take more than one wicket.
Victoria's impregnable position is a fair comeback for a side that was 6-75 in its first innings in the second over after lunch on the opening day.
What it effectively means for the Vics is that they have their 28th Shield title in the bag.
But it was also a landmark day for David Hussey who plundered an imperious 168 from 198 balls-faced, including 18 fours and four sixes.
When he reached156 with a towering six off Boyce, Hussey became the competition's leading run-scorer for 2009-10, surpassing Tasmanian opener Ed Cowan's tally of 957.
Dismissed half-an-hour before tea - caught by a tumbling Lee Carseldine at cover point off Ben Cutting - Hussey finished the season with 970 Shield runs at 57.06.
Resuming on 63 alongside Aaron Finch (54 not out), Hussey took a fancy to the left-arm orthodox darts of part-timer Chris Lynn who opened the bowling for the Bulls with fellow tweaker Boyce.
Hussey smashed two sixes off Lynn and one off Boyce in the first 20 minutes of play to advance at run-a-ball pace to his century from just 110 deliveries.
Finch was the only batsman to fall in the opening session, run out for 63 by a direct hit from mid-off by 12th man Jason Floros, deputising for the injured James Hopes.
With a century there for the taking, Finch will be cursing his impetuousness for taking on the substitute's arm for the sake of a single.
Hussey quietened down after being dropped by Wade Townsend at cover off Luke Feldman on 111 and conceded the strike to skipper Cameron White in the period to lunch.
White kept the runs flowing after the break and was well within reach of a century of his own when he was bowled by Boyce for 89 off an inside edge within five minutes of Hussey's departure.
That double setback, with the score on 481, didn't deter Andrew McDonald or Matthew Wade from chasing quick runs.
Wade (20) fell to Boyce in the second over after tea holing-out to Luke Feldman at mid-off, then Boyce picked up his fifth wicket for the innings when he had John Hastings (26) neatly stumped by Chris Hartley.
Any thoughts of a declaration were quickly dispelled when Damien Wright hobbled to the crease with a runner to save his injured hamstring.
But his departure for 13 - caught behind off Boyce - finally prompted White's appearance at the dressing room door with a wave to bring the slaughter to a close.
Victoria first innings 305
Queensland first innings 257
Victoria second innings
Jewell c Simpson b Boyce 70 (143)
Quiney b Boyce 73 (79)
Finch run out 63 (104)
Hussey c Carseldine b Cutting 169 (198)
White b Boyce 89 (165)
McDonald not out 41 (72)
Wade c Feldman b Boyce 20 (31)
Hastings st Hartley b Boyce 26 (31)
Wright c Hartley b Boyce 13 (13)
Pattinson not out 6 (9)
Extras: 22 (5b, 11lb, 3nb, 3w)
Total: 591 (8 wickets, 146 overs)
FOW: 1-154, 2-155, 3-311, 4-481, 5-481, 6-524, 7-561, 8-581
Bowling
Swan - 32 - 4 - 113 - 0 (3w)
Cutting 23 - 6 - 87 - 1 (2nb)
Feldman 26 - 4 - 108 - 0 (1nb)
Simpson 17 - 4 - 51 - 0
Boyce 44 - 6 - 181 - 6
Lynn 4 - 0 - 28 - 0