Dave Bransdon has maintained his three-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Heritage Classic in Melbourne after firing a four-under 68 on Friday at the Australasian PGA event.

Backing up from his first-round course-record 64, the 39-year-old moved to 12-under for the tournament to hold a handy buffer ahead of two-time Australian Masters champion Bradley Hughes, who also signed for a second-round 68.

A shot further back are New Zealander Gareth Paddison (67) and Victorian Leigh Deagan (67) while there were three surprise casualties at the Heritage Golf and Country Club in the north-east of the city.

Australian PGA champion Daniel Popovic and tour veterans Craig Parry and Andre Stolz missed the cut, which was made at one-under the card.

“My game is in pretty good shape and I am putting well so, it was a nice solid round,” said Bransdon.

“I didn’t hit it as good as yesterday but four-under is never a bad score.”

“It sounds a bit boring but I can’t control what anyone else does, so I’ll just play and see what happens.”

Matthew Griffin and Matthew Millar shot the lowest rounds of the day – six-under 66s – to move them into the top-10 on the leaderboard.