Tasmania is chasing 147 from a possible 85 overs for outright victory over NSW in the Sheffield Shield match at Bellerive.
The Tigers reduced the Blues to 9-150 in their second innings in the first session of day four, while NSW batsman Simon Katich was unable to bat because of injury.
Katich suffered bad bruising when he was struck in the face on day one.
Resuming at 4-75 and hoping to set Tasmania a target of at least 200, the Blues made a poor start on Thursday when wicketkeeper Peter Nevill pulled left-arm quick James Faulkner (4-52) straight to Brendan Drew at midwicket on 10.
Faulkner received plenty of support from the other end, where Jackson Bird (4-51) found himself on a hat-trick when he removed Scott Coyte lbw for 17 and then bowled Sean Abbott for a first-ball duck.
Bird then removed Blues captain Stephen O’Keefe, caught at slip by Mark Cosgrove for 35, and it was 8-146 before Trent Copeland was last man out for 17, caught by Cosgrove off Drew.
Struggling former Test opener Phil Hughes top scored in the Blues’ second innings with 36.
Tasmania, though, will need to negotiate a last-day pitch that is keeping low in patches.
Both sides are desperate for points to make up ground on top two, Queensland and Western Australia, who were doing battle at the Gabba.
That, and a rain-marred day two, had led to NSW declaring their first innings at 7-341 and the Tigers following suit as soon as they had notched first innings points at 7-345.
Faulkner had ripped through the NSW top order on Wednesday evening, claiming Usman Khawaja (14), Steven Smith (seven) and Ben Rohrer (11).
It then emerged that more overs would have been possible earlier in the day if the umpires had not erred in adding time for the rain delays to the end of Wednesday’s play.
In twilight matches, time should be added to the earlier sessions and the umpires’ error meant half an hour’s play was lost due to bad light.