Clarke helped Australia maintain their superiority in the opening Test

Australia set India an improbable 499 to win the first Test in Melbourne after a positive batting performance.

Phil Jaques (51) and Matthew Hayden (47) took their stand to 83 before the latter and skipper Ricky Ponting fell to Harbhajan Singh in quick succession.

Michael Clarke cracked 73, while Andrew Symonds (44) and Brad Hogg, who made a Test best 35 not out, clubbed two sixes before the hosts declared on 351-7.

India survived eight overs to reach 6-0 but the odds favour an Australian win.

The highest successful run chase in Test history is West Indies' 418-7 to beat Australia in Antigua in 2003, while the biggest total batting fourth at the MCG was the 417 England scored chasing 463 in the Centenary Test in 1977.

With the pitch becoming increasingly difficult to bat on, Australia will be confident of a 15th successive Test victory, one short of the world record set by Steve Waugh's Aussies from 1999-2001.

They have won the last eight Tests at the venue and were never seriously inconvenienced by the Indians, with the openers setting the tone.

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Jaques swept India captain Anil Kumble to bring up his fifty in the second over after lunch but popped a return catch to the leg-spinner next ball.

Ponting fell cheaply for the second time in the game, edging Harbhajan to Rahul Dravid at slip, while Hayden was pouched at long-on off the off-spinner.

When Michael Hussey (36) was snapped up at slip off left-arm paceman RP Singh, the Aussies were 161-4, 308 ahead, and Symonds was bowled off a Zaheer Khan no-ball which swung back in to him.

The all-rounder recovered from that scare to unleash some powerful shots as he added 82 with Clarke.

Symonds eventually fell lbw to Zaheer shortly before tea, but Clarke and Adam Gilchrist (35) maintained the momentum before Hogg cut loose.

Slow left-armer Hogg had a strong shout for lbw against Dravid turned down in the tricky 40-minute sesssion the former captain and Wasim Jaffer came through.

But they know it will take something remarkable to prevent the Aussies going 1-0 up in the four-Test series.

Harbhajan celebrates after getting rid of Ricky Ponting cheaply

Harbhajan retained a positive air despite the herculean task facing his team.

"It is a stiff target, but with the kind of batting line-up we have, if we play to our potential, anything can happen," the spinner remarked.

"We're here to win the series, we're not looking to draw this match and we'll try our best to win this game."

Meanwhile Clarke revealed that application was the key to his seventh Test half century.

"It seems like once the ball gets older and a bit softer it's pretty difficult to score, so you have to be as patient as possible I guess," he said.

"We found the ball reverse swings a little bit, so we had to work as hard as possible to score our runs."

The all-rounder had taken his time to leave the crease after being given out caught behind by umpire Billy Bowden on the second day of the game.

However, he was subsequently found not guilty of breaching the ICC's code of conduct.

"It was evident that Yuvraj took more time than normal to leave the crease but it was due to the fact that he was shocked at the decision," Procter said.