Michael Clarke wasted little time in declaring just after the start of day four of the first Test against South Africa, setting the hosts a target of 482 at Centurion.

Clarke called an end to the innings 3.2 overs into play on Saturday, ending Australia’s second innings at 4-290 following the dismissal of Shaun Marsh for 44.

It means the visitors will have almost six full sessions to skittle the Proteas.

No Test side has ever scored more than 418 in a successful fourth-innings run-chase.

But the Proteas have form when it comes to salvaging a draw.

David Warner noted his side had not forgotten the way they batted for four-and-a-half sessions at Adelaide Oval to avoid defeat in 2012.

“If you look back on Adelaide when we put 500 runs on the board, it was a tough battle there,” he said after scoring a century on Friday.

“It’ll be a tough battle here. It is quite flat if the cracks don’t do anything.”

The highest final-innings total at the venue is England’s 8-251 in 2000, and that carries an asterisk given it was when Hansie Cronje convinced Nasser Hussain to turn it into a one-innings match after heavy rain.

“I don’t know which bits of that match were for real. I don’t know which runs were freebie runs,” Hussain later told UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph, after revelations Cronje was acting at a bookmaker’s urging.

On Friday, Warner (115) and Alex Doolan (89) made batting look easy on the bouncy pitch.

Clarke will be feeling confident when he throws the new ball to Mitchell Johnson.

Johnson set a new mark for his best Test figures outside Australia on Friday, finishing with 7-68 when the Proteas were rolled for 206 shortly before lunch.