Despite being four wickets down, and still more than 300 runs behind Australia, Ross Taylor believed New Zealand still has a chance of winning the first Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.
New Zealand's top-order once again folded under the pressure of the Australian bowling attack and was at one stage struggling at 40-4 before captain Daniel Vettori and Martin Guptill forged a potential innings-saving partnership in the last session of day two.
The home side was chasing a first innings total of 459-5, thanks to a record fifth wicket partnership between Michael Clarke (168) and Marcus North (112 not out) before captain Ricky Ponting declared after lunch on the second day.
However, Taylor, who was caught out on 21 runs, felt New Zealand still had an opportunity to get itself back into the match.
"Without a doubt [New Zealand can save the Test match]," he said. "We shouldn't be here if we didn't think we were going to win.
"To save the game we know is going to be hard work and it's going to be an important first session tomorrow.
"I guess every session today was important, but I think this next one's going to be extra important.
"But we were completely outplayed today. We probably got a little bit of momentum back towards the end there with Guptill and Vettori's partnership, but Australia played well.
"I can't put my finger on what went wrong, we just lost too many wickets at crucial times. Being four for 40, the wicket wasn't that bad so I'm not sure what went wrong. Hopefully we're going to get a chance to put that right in the next innings."
While Clarke was by far the highlight of the Australian innings, hitting his highest Test score after a fortnight of off-field anguish, North repaid the faith shown by his selectors and was a major player in the first two days play.
North, with his Test spot questioned by many, played well and earned his fourth Test century after his comfortable five hour stand at the crease.
The left-hander said he was pleased to finally be seeing the fruits after a lot of recent hard work.
"It's nice being back in the camp," he said.
"I've been working hard back at home and worked really hard in the three days leading up to the Test with Justin [Langer] and Ricky so it's just nice to get rewarded for some hard work.
"The facts are I haven't been spending a lot of time in the middle so walking into a Test match under the pump isn't easy.
"It was nice to be able to go to sleep with 50 under my belt, but I'm more proud of the fact that I was able to come in and make the most of a start on a good wicket."
Play resumes on Sunday morning with New Zealand sitting on 108-4 with Vettori on 42 runs and Guptill on 19.