Former world No.1 Andy Murray has shown Thanasi Kokkinakis who’s boss, grinding out a gob-smacking five-set comeback victory to earn a spot in the Australian Open third round.

Winning the opening two sets and leading 5-2 in the third, Kokkinakis looked on track to complete a rare daily treble by Australian men, with Alexei Popyrin and Alex de Minaur earlier banking rousing second round wins.

But instead the South Australian was left heart-broken with the Scot spoiling the party with a 4-6, 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 7-5 defeat which lasted five hours 45 minutes - the second longest in Australian Open history.

A large crowd stayed at Margaret Court Arena until the death, the match threatening the record for the latest grand slam finish which was a 4.34am epic in 2008 at Melbourne Park when Lleyton Hewitt trumped Marcos Bagdahtis.

With his early career ravaged by injury, Kokkinakis had never previously gone past the Open second round, only once before reaching the third round at a grand slam with that high coming back in 2015 at the French Open.

It looked like his fortunes would change but never-say-die Murray refused to stay on script.

Kokkinakis struggled to close out the first three sets, blowing five set points in the second before taking it in a tiebreak, and in the third he led 5-2.

The 26-year-old temporarily lost the plot when leading 2-0 in the third when he received a time violation on his serve after restarting his action when a fan called out.