England must somehow make eight wickets last two days to escape Australia's fortress Gabba with a highly-improbable stalemate in the first Test.

David Warner (124) and Michael Clarke (113) both batted supremely as Australia piled up 401 for seven declared, to set England a world-record target of 561.

In the 15 overs of batting forced on them on the third evening, England got off to an awful start when Michael Carberry contrived to be bowled by Ryan Harris for a duck, via a defensive shot which allowed the ball to roll back between his legs on to the base of the stumps.

Another head-in-hands moment saw Jonathan Trott flick a short ball from Mitchell Johnson straight to Nathan Lyon at deep square-leg - and when Kevin Pietersen came within inches of running out captain Alastair Cook as he got off the mark with a manic single first ball, England's fretful mood was encapsulated. In the circumstances, they did well to reach stumps in worsening light without further losses on 24 for two.

Australia see fear in English batsmen's eyes and the combative Warner was only too happy to crow about it. He was scathing in his review of Cook's side, describing the tourists as scared and singling out Trott's performance as "poor" and "weak".

Trott's form, and susceptibility to the short ball, is an obvious and particular worry. He has been short of his best for much of the past year, and has mustered only 19 runs here as his unequal struggles against Johnson have ended predictably.

"England are on the back foot. It does look like they've got scared eyes at the moment," said Warner. "The way that Trotty got out today was pretty poor, and pretty weak. Obviously, there's a weakness there at the moment - and we're probably on top of it.

"I think he's got to get new 'sledges' as well, because it's not working for him. We've seen him work hard in the nets on the short ball. But trying to face a 150kph short ball from Mitchell Johnson, the way to go is not probably to back away."

England had resumed with the ball on day three badly needing a revival to stay remotely in the match, after their calamitous collapse on Friday afternoon.

Their two early successes were self-inflicted blows by Chris Rogers and Shane Watson on a rain-interrupted morning - after which Warner and Clarke took over in a run-a-ball third-wicket stand of 158.

The tourists, especially once frontline seamers James Anderson and Stuart Broad had given their all, had no answer.

Graeme Swann, on a pitch his opposite number Nathan Lyon had already demonstrated could help the off-spinner, and third seamer Chris Tremlett (three for 69) were especially ineffective - a worrying development for England in the context of the entire series.

It was not until Warner was guilty perhaps of minor complacency, having just crashed Broad back over his head for a six, that there was some temporary respite, as the left-hander edged the same bowler behind.

That man Broad had earlier earned himself a few more boos by striking with his first ball of the day to dismiss Rogers cheaply with Carberry taking the catch at point.

Broad and Anderson did not make life easy for Australia's batsmen initially, and the hosts had added only five runs in seven overs. Watson then presented a simple catch, from Tremlett's delivery, to Broad at mid on.

England brought Broad straight back to try to discomfort Clarke, having expertly exploited his apparent weakness against the short ball in the first innings, but had no joy this time.

After Broad got Warner at last, Tremlett dug out a good delivery to have Steve Smith caught-behind for a duck. But Clarke completed his hundred in just 115 balls before falling to Swann, up the wicket and bowled aiming over long on to give the off-spinner match figures of one for 192 at that stage. By then, Clarke's sixth hundred against England, and 25th in all, had ensured the tourists would be set an unfeasible target.

Swann would eventually also bowl George Bailey, but the second new ball merely provided an extra spike in the run rate as Brad Haddin (53) bagged his second 50 of the match.

Anderson, however, believes England have the fighting qualities to extricate themselves.

"We're in a tricky position and we have to show a lot of fight and character tomorrow, which we know we've got," he said. "We've shown it in the past and if there are some clouds that come over to help us, then great.

"The pace isn't a worry to be honest. We've faced much quicker than this in previous series and the batsmen are used to it. We have prepared for it. We have a lot of quality in there and fighting spirit."