A magical, record-equalling century by Ricky Ponting put Australia firmly in command of England on the first day of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba.
The Australian captain's latest ton - his seventh in eight Tests - drew him level with predecessor Steve Waugh's 32 centuries and was the highlight of a great batting effort by the home side, which reached 3-346 after Ponting won the toss and batted first on a belter.
Ponting finished a triumphant day on 137 not out, Mike Hussey (63 not out) made a great start to his Ashes career and opener Justin Langer returned to his best with 82 as the trio ground the tourists into the Gabba.
England produced a nightmare start with the ball, toiled hard in the middle session but fell away in the last in an embarrassing start to its Ashes defence and a repeat of the horrors of day one four years ago.
No Australian has worn the noose of the 2005 Ashes defeat tougher than Ponting, who produced a superb innings studded with crisp pull shots and lavish drives through the on-side to continue his remarkable form blitz.
The Tasmanian has scored nine centuries since Australia lost the Ashes, has reached three figures in his past three innings in Brisbane and his average is now 59.13 - the highest it has been since his second Test, over a decade ago.
With no compatriot in front of him on the all-time century-maker list, only Indians Sachin Tendulkar (35) and Sunil Gavaskar (34) and the West Indies' Brian Lara (34) head Ponting.
Those three have all batted at least 35 innings more than the Australian skipper.
It was clear this one meant a lot to Ponting.
The moment he clipped Matthew Hoggard and turned for a second run he raised both arms, and upon completing his third run waved his bat and soaked up a deafening roar from a capacity crowd of 39,288.
Langer got the home side onto the front foot with his first half-century in 11 innings, which wards off Phil Jaques' challenge for now.
The veteran might have been celebrating a ton himself had he not cut Andrew Flintoff straight to point half an hour after lunch.
The England captain was his side's saviour with the ball after a shocking opening, as Steve Harmison bowled one of cricket's widest wides first-up and was jittery throughout, Hoggard's swing went AWOL and James Anderson's short stuff became fodder.
Flintoff took the first wicket of the series when he had Matthew Hayden (21) caught at second slip off a beauty, and when spinner Ashley Giles had Damien Martyn (29) out cutting to one which bounced big on him, the tourists had worked themselves back into the match.
But from 3-198, Hussey looked completely at ease in his Ashes debut, a far cry from his nervous first Test here just over a year ago.
Hussey worked the gaps and Ponting punished the bad stuff in a partnership of 148.
The only glimmer of a chance Ponting gave was when he pushed to mid-off and took a quick single on 97, but Harmison's fumble typified his day.
England's dreadful start rekindled memories of its howler of a day here four years ago, when Australia reached 2-364 and Simon Jones wrecked his knee.
Today Kevin Pietersen sent a scare through the tourists when he too hurt his knee when it plugged in the field - he walked off the ground, but was fine soon after - and Flintoff lost the toss (Nasser Hussain won it and bowled in 2002).
But Australia's batting was again devastating and England's players walked off a bedraggled bunch.