Australia hit 551-4 before declaring and reducing Sri Lanka to 31-2 at stumps on day two of the first Test.
Michael Hussey, dropped on 13 on day one, made 133 and Michael Clarke an unbeaten 145, the pair sharing a brilliant stand of 245 in Brisbane.
Muttiah Muralitharan, so dangerous for much of the time on Thursday, could not add to his Test wicket tally of 702.
Brett Lee then took two wickets with the new ball before Marvan Atapattu, in his first Test for two years, dug in.
Australia started day two on 242-3, with Hussey 28 and Clarke five.
Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene had not been unduly concerned with his team's position on Thursday night.
But as an extended morning session wore on the tourists' plight deepened.
Clarke and Hussey had to concentrate after 10 months away from Test cricket and never played their shots with carefree abandon - scoring at a little over three runs an over in their partnership.
By lunch the scoreboard had moved along sweetly to 359-3 in 111 overs, with Hussey on 85 and Clarke 64.
Muralitharan, having dismissed two left-handers on Thursday, and given Hussey frequent problems, was enduring a tough day at the office.
Hussey became gradually more confident against the spin, picking the ball more easily out of Muralitharan's hand and continuing to rotate the strike against the fast bowlers.
He was the first to reach triple-figures, passing the milestone with a pair of leg-glanced fours off Chaminda Vaas.
Hussey's century pushed his incredible Test average to 82.38 from 17 Tests but he eventually fell 15 minutes before tea, driving Dilhara Fernando on the up to Atapattu at short cover.
It was an ironic moment - Atapattu had been the fielder responsible for the costly error when dropping Hussey on day one.
By then, Clarke had reached his century and was especially effective against Muralitharan (2-170), using his feet well in coming forward to play handsome drives or rock back to cut hard.
With Australia in complete control, Clarke and Andrew Symonds (53 not out) played some bigger shots after tea leading to a typically imaginative declaration from Ricky Ponting, who gave his bowlers 16 overs at the Sri Lanka top order.
Mitchell Johnson bowled promisingly on his Test debut, but it was Lee who supplied the wickets.
Sanath Jayasuriya got the faintest of outside edges as he flayed well wide of the off-stump and Michael Vandort was undone by pace, also edging to Adam Gilchrist.
Atapattu made Stuart MacGill ponder his return to the Test fold by stroking him for three effortless boundaries in a single over.
But it was a tiny crumb of comfort for Sri Lanka in a day of general misery.
Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss said: "You've got to give the [Australia] batters credit - they did very well - I thought we bowled quite well this morning, better today than we did yesterday when we didn't quite use conditions.
"We were a litlle bit wide and a little bit short [on day one] and against this opposition we needed to bowl a little bit better in those conditions yesterday.
"Our batters have got a lot of hard work in front of them, but if they're worth their salt they've got an opportunity on a good wicket tomorrow."
The world's three leading news agencies have not been providing material from the Brisbane Test due to a dispute with Cricket Australia.
As a result, our pictures of Michael Clarke and Brett Lee are not from the current match.
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