Thomas Pieters mastered the windy afternoon conditions to fire a 66 and join Ryan Fox in a four-way tie for the lead heading into the weekend at the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth.
Fox fired a second consecutive 68 in the morning to set the target at eight under alongside Matthew Griffin and Panuphol Pittayarat, with Pieters joining them at the top of a congested leaderboard at Lake Karrinyup Country Club.
The top 24 after round three will progress to the six hole knockout match play on Sunday, with the top eight receiving a bye into the second round.
Pieters has some match play pedigree having claimed four points on his Ryder Cup debut in 2016 but will be taking nothing for granted after round two leaders Brett Rumford and Lee Westwood failed to make the top 24 last season.
"You can get careless thinking you've got a lot of room to play with," he said. "I think I'm going to try out there tomorrow and act like it's a stroke play event and you always want to be in the first place. If you're not, I don't think you're mentally taking it the right way."
Fox missed out on the match play stages after losing in a play-off in 2017 and finished a shot out of the play-off 12 months ago.
"The last couple of years I've eyed that top 24 from sort of around the morning and it hasn't worked out very well for me," he said. "I'll try to aim a little higher this year and see what happens. It looks like it might blow tomorrow afternoon as well, so it might be a case of just trying to hang on.
"The golf game feels like it's in a pretty good place and I'll push to get into that top eight and anything can happen on Sunday around here, which is good."
Australian Matt Jager, Scot Robert MacIntyre and England's Richard McEvoy were at seven under, a shot clear of New Zealander Benjamin Campbell, American Berry Henson, Australian Brad Kennedy, Spaniard Adrian Otaegui and Frenchman Clément Sordet.
I think I'm going to try out there tomorrow and act like it's a stroke play event - Thomas Pieters
Pittayarat started the day five shots off the lead but quickly had himself within one as he made birdies on the second, fourth, sixth and seventh. A bogey on the eighth dropped him back but the Thai picked up shots on the ninth and 11th to share the lead.
Griffin had earlier moved into a share with birdies on the 11th, 13th, 14th and 15th but he dropped a shot on the 17th before bouncing back on the first.
McEvoy hit back from a bogey on the fourth with gains on the sixth, ninth and tenth, and when Fox birdied the 14th - after driving the green - 15th and fourth after a birdie-bogey start, there was a six-way tie at the top.
Pittayarat broke out of that group with a birdie on the 15th and home favourite Griffin soon joined him at eight under as he made a gain on the fourth.
Kiwi Fox dropped a shot on the sixth but picked it straight back up on the next from four feet as Pittayarat made smart up-and-downs on the 17th and last to set the target.
Fox then put an approach to 12 feet at the ninth and a closing birdie had him in a share of the clubhouse lead, where he was joined by Griffin who parred his way home.
Pieters birdied the first but gave the shot back on the fourth before picking up shots on the fifth and sixth. A 12-foot putt on the eighth and an up-and-down from the sand on the ninth then saw him turn in 32.
A big drive left a flick into the tenth and when the three-time European Tour winner played a sublime chip from over the back of the par five 11th, he was in a share of the lead.
The Belgian drove the 14th and got down in two to lead on his own and after saving par despite finding the water on the next, he three-putted the 17th for a bogey.
MacIntyre had an eagle on the 11th and added birdies on the 14th, 15th, second and fourth before dropping a shot on the eighth.
McEvoy dropped a shot on the 14th to slip to six under but regained it on the last.
Otaegui is a head-to-head specialist having won his two European Tour titles at the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Match Play and the Belgian Knockout and he made birdies on the tenth, 11th, 18th, first and seventh to go with a bogey on the 15th.
Sordet carded seven birdies and two bogeys, while Campbell signed for a 71, Kennedy a 70 and Henson a 67.
Scotsman Grant Forrest carded the lowest round of the day with a 65 containing five birdies and an eagle to get within three of the lead alongside home trio Steven Jeffress, Deyen Lawson and Min Woo Lee.
