A superb century from forgotten man Mitchell Marsh on Thursday dragged Australia back into the contest after the tourists had been struggling on 85-4, before a blistering spell of bowling from Mark Wood had the crowd off their seats.
Taking the final six Australian wickets for 23 runs, England looked to be in the ascendancy in a match they have to win to prevent the tourists retaining the Ashes with two games to spare.
However, the dismissals of both openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, along with new number three Harry Brook, before the close of play ensured it was difficult to call who had the advantage after an action-packed encounter.
Key wickets for Stuart Broad at the start and end of the opening session had given England, who must win the third test to avoid Australia retaining the Ashes with two matches to spare, the edge at lunch with the visitors labouring on 91-4.
Joe Root should have had Marsh caught just after the restart to put England firmly in control but that missed opportunity proved costly as the all-rounder upped the ante and piled on the runs in the afternoon session.
Marsh, playing in his first test since the final match of the 2019 Ashes series in place of the injured Cameron Green, hit boundary after boundary to storm to his third test hundred, all of which have come against England, from 102 balls.
Just as it appeared he would remain at the crease into the evening session, Zak Crawley held on to a catch to finally bring an end to Marsh's innings on 118 in the final over before tea.
With tensions still high from the controversial second test at Lord's that Australia won to take a 2-0 series lead, Broad got England fans off their seats when he dismissed opener David Warner for the 16th time in his test career in the first over.
Mark Wood, back in the side for the first time this series, then came on with a frightening display of pace bowling, with a 95 miles per hour thunderbolt taking Usman Khawaja's leg stump out of the ground.
Ollie Robinson then found an unsettled Marnus Labuschagne's edge, as the world's number three ranked batter departed having scored 21.
The key wicket of Steve Smith, edging through to wicket keeper Jonny Bairstow in his 100th test for Australia, really put England in command, but the afternoon session very much belonged to Australia thanks to forgotten man Marsh and a more steady unbeaten 39 from Travis Head.
Wood then produced a wonderful spell after tea to mop up Australia's tail for 25 runs, giving England momentum before they faced around 90 minutes of Australian hostility.
Ben Duckett fell for two early on off of the bowling of Cummins thanks to a catch from Alex Carey, which involved as much of his mouth as well as his hands.
Promoted to number three following the shoulder injury to Ollie Pope, Harry Brook was fidgety before departing for just three.
Root came together with opener Crawley to steady the ship as the pair put on 43 for the third wicket, however Marsh - flying high after his century earlier in the day - had Crawley caught at slip for 33.
Bairstow joined his England and Yorkshire teammate in the middle and the pair, on their home ground, fought through to stumps with the hosts 195 runs behind after an enthralling day of test cricket.
