Following on 212 behind, South Africa's batsmen yielded eight catches, with three wickets falling in six overs after lunch on day three, and Ashwell Prince's 49 remained their top score thus far on tour as they were bowled out for 164 in the second innings.

Gillies was only called upon to bowl four overs, conceding 17 without taking a wicket, as Western Australia recorded their first first-class win of the season.

Graeme Smith, South Africa's captain, claimed that he did not think the result was "a concern", and was confident his side would do "the hard work going into the first Test".

After three warm-up matches, with one win, one draw and one loss, the South African team was ready for the top-ranked Australians, though they had to make do without Jacques Kallis.

He was to get more – after Shaun Pollock had removed Ricky Ponting lbw for 71, Brad Hodge and Mike Hussey batted together until tea, with the score on three for 175.

But Ntini took three wickets with thirteen balls, had Hodge, Hussey and Adam Gilchrist all caught, and despite a stand of 33 between Shane Warne and Brett Lee, Australia were bowled out for 258 after André Nel took a brace including Nathan Bracken and Glenn McGrath in the 76th over.

Cricinfo journalist Siddartha Vaidyanathan claimed that the "pendulum [of control in the game] oscillated to and fro"[10] on the second day, as South Africa first cut 55 runs off the target in 12.3 overs, before a wide one from Bracken found the edge of Graeme Smith's bat and went to the hand of Ponting at second slip for 34.

None of the following three batsmen in the order managed to pass 30, either, and Jacques Rudolph and Justin Kemp came and went in single figures to see South Africa were six for 185, and still needed 73 for a first-innings lead.

Boucher put on 18 in the next half-hour with André Nel, and Makhaya Ntini hit 12 from ten balls as South Africa closed on 296, with a lead of 38.

Rudolph, Kallis' replacement,[12] bought up his half-century during this time, his 50 coming off 150 deliveries, and South Africa were four for 190 at tea, with only about thirty overs until the close of play.

Rudolph and Mark Boucher batted out the remaining overs, and Australia and South Africa would go into Melbourne's Boxing Day Test with the series level at 0–0.

[17] He pushed on to 117 before he was caught off Nel, who paid back for his dropped catch with four wickets in eight overs; he also got Andrew Symonds for a duck, Adam Gilchrist for two and Shane Warne for nine.

On the third day, Brett Lee took two South African middle-order wickets, getting Kallis and Rudolph bowled before Mark Boucher settled in with the top-scorer of the innings, Gibbs.

Symonds continued on his efforts with the bat, and according to Cricinfo journalist Anand Vasu, he lifted "Australia to within a dreadlock's breadth of victory".

[19] After Smith, de Villiers and Gibbs had been dismissed by the experienced bowlers of Warne and McGrath, South Africa were three for 58, and needed a rebuilding effort from Kallis and Ashwell Prince.

However, Ashwell Prince departed just before the drinks break, dismissed by Warne for the fourth time in the series, and Boje held out for an hour before edging a ball from McGrath onto his stumps for 13.

Lee was also able to grab Graeme Smith, leaving South Africa at three for 86, but Ashwell Prince and Jacques Kallis batted out the six overs until the tea break, before enjoying conditions that "gradually became batsman-friendly".

Though Brett Lee opened the second day's play with what was described as a "torrid spell",[22] where he had the batsmen beaten and hit on the body, and even had a "legitimate lbw shout"[23] against Kallis when on 85.

Kallis went on to make 111 before he was caught off the bowling of Symonds (his only wicket of the innings), while his batting partner, Prince, registered his third Test century before he was given out for 119 to a ball that "would have missed off".

In the final session of the day, Shaun Pollock and Test debutant Johan Botha (who had come in for the injured Ntini) put on 49 for the eighth wicket to take South Africa past 400, and they eventually declared on nine for 451.

On the third day, a century from Ponting and late hitting from Gilchrist helped Australia to limit the deficit and prevent the follow on, but they were still behind on first innings.

The Cricinfo report claimed that Hussey was "extremely lucky to survive an lbw shout on 9 off Nel",[25] but he did go on to make 45; Ponting was on 97 when the partnership was broken, and brought up the century with a flick wide of mid-on.

His century was brought up shortly after tea, and as he was supported by Hayden, who hit 90 in a 182-run second-wicket partnership, Ponting could guide Australia to a 2–0 win margin.

The crowd of 38,894 was a record for any sporting event at the Brisbane Cricket Ground, and they got to watch the home side put out "an utterly convincing and breathtaking performance" according to the Cricinfo report.

South Africa lost Boeta Dippenaar and Gibbs in the third over, with Nathan Bracken's opening spell yielding both to end with bowling figures of 3–0–9–2.