England would have been initially pleased with the way things had been going as they claimed the final two Australia wickets for 22 and then eased their way to 82-2.
However a disastrous spell saw them lose six wickets for just nine runs to hand the initiative back to the Aussies.
Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Nathan Lyon did the damage - and although Stuart Broad (32) fought a valiant rear-guard action, it was too little, too late as England were skittled for 136.
David Warner and Chris Rogers then rubbed salt into the wounds as they reached 65-0 at the close to move into a 224-run lead.
Despite England's batting collapse, Michael Carberry, who top scored with 40 on his Ashes debut, says the dressing room are still positive.
Carberry, though, believes England are far from dead and buried despite their obvious disappointment at how things panned out.
Positive
"I think the batsmen feel a little bit down about the session but the vibe is still pretty positive," said the opener, who was England's top scorer with 40.
"We know there is still three days to go in the game so we are not totally out of it yet. We have just got to come out tomorrow and fight hard."
England were accused of being too cautious with the bat, however Carberry praised Johnson (4-61), Harris and Lyon for frustrating the tourists.
"I came in at lunchtime and said to the guys that it is a good wicket but credit to the Australians they bowled well and we never really got away from them at any stage," he said.
"It is easy to say we got stuck but if people put the ball in the right area they are going to make it difficult to score.
"You have to try and be proactive as a batsman but you have to be respect good bowling. I guess you have to find a balance which we didn't quite find today."
Brad Haddin: Insists Australia will bat for as long as possible
Warner and Rogers gave an indication of how to play as they breezed through the final 22 overs of the day.
And wicketkeeper Brad Haddin insists Australia will aim to bat as long as possible as they look to pile on the misery.
Haddin, who fell six short of a century in the morning session as the Australia innings was wrapped up for 295, said: "We will bat as long as we can. There is a lot of time left in the game and we know England got a very good attack so we have got to make sure we keep moving the game forward and not stall with the scoreboard.
Brad Haddin has praised Australia's bowlers after they tore through England's batting line up in the afternoon session.
"It was a tough day but we have got to earn the right to get those wickets in that middle session.
Pressure
"I felt we built up some good pressure leading up into that wonderful hour and a half. The game is in a good position with three days to go."
England came under attack from a barrage of short balls and Haddin was pleased to see tactic paid dividends.
"There was a plan to go short, especially when the tail came in," said Haddin.
"We might as well use guys like Mitchell Johnson, who has that extra bit of pace, and we know that it is difficult place to bat as a tailender when the ball is going around your nose.
"We executed those plans pretty well. It might be the same in the second innings, or it might be something different."
Catch day three of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba on Sky Sports 2 HD from 11.30pm on Friday.
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