Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh were among three wickets to fall in the opening session of day two as South Africa fought back in the first Test at Centurion.

Australia were 7-374 at lunch on Thursday, still on top in the first bout of the three-Test series thanks to Marsh and Smith’s record-breaking partnership worth 233 runs.

Smith and Marsh added 34 runs to the visitors’ overnight score of 4-297, bettering Ashwell Prince and Herschelle Gibbs’ 213-run effort against Pakistan in 2007 to set a new mark for the greatest fifth-wicket stand at the venue.

But there were signs of life in South Africa’s weary attack, which was minus Morne Morkel for the first hour-and-a-half when the beanpole went for scans on a shoulder injury.

Smith was out edging to Ryan McLaren for 100, one hour after play resumed and one over after bringing his fourth Test ton up.

The over after breaking the game-changing stand that lasted nearly five hours, the side’s perennial saviour in the Ashes Brad Haddin was back in the pavilion for a duck when Peterson trapped him lbw.

Ryan McLaren beat the edge of Mitchell Johnson with two fantastic consecutive deliveries, while Marsh’s career-best knock finished on 148 when he nicked a testing ball from Vernon Philander.

But Johnson (28 not out) and Ryan Harris (7 not out) steadied, with the former batting belligerently belting five boundaries.

The session ended with Morkel, whose towering frame has made him particularly venomous on a bouncy pitch, hitting Johnson with a rising delivery.

Marsh bettered his 141 on Test debut in Sri Lanka in 2011, and the 30-year-old was chuffed to perform after hastily flying out of Perth on Saturday night when Shane Watson was ruled out of the first Test due to a calf injury.

“It probably is (the best knock of his career),” Marsh said prior to the start of day two.

“It’s been a pretty amazing two weeks for me (having recovered from a calf injury quicker than first expected).”