Marcus Fraser, Min Woo Lee and Travis Smyth held a share of the lead as heavy winds made scoring difficult on day three of the 2020 ISPS Handa Vic Open.
The links style of the Beach Course at 13th Beach Golf Club is regarded as a devilishly tough test in the wind and so it proved, with the lead moving back a shot to 13 under as the final group reached the turn.
The trio of home favourites were the ones to lead the way, with the experienced Fraser four under for his round with just two holes to play.
Young guns Smyth and Lee were around the turn, with Lee picking up two shots in his first ten holes and Smyth turning in 35.
Overnight leader Robin Sciot-Siegrist played his first nine holes in 39 to slip to 11 under, a shot clear of clubhouse leaders Matthew Millar and Anthony Quayle.
Lee and Smyth are both looking for their first European Tour wins, while Fraser has three on his CV but is now based back in Australia with his family.
Frenchman Sciot-Siegrist started the day with a two shot lead but found a nasty lie to the right of the second green and played a poor chip for a bogey that brought a number of the field into play.
Smyth got on the second green in two for his first birdie of the day and amateur Jed Morgan got up and down on the same hole before putting his tee shot to five feet at the third to make it a three way tie.
Smyth made a birdie on the fourth after a nice approach to take the solo lead, while Morgan found sand off the tee and then flew the green as he surrendered a double bogey.
Lee had taken advantage of the par five second and when he did the same at the fifth following an excellent third shot, he was just one back.
Sciot-Siegrist made an excellent up-and-down to save par on the par three third but he could not repeat the trick on the seventh and Smyth's lead was two shots.
Lee dropped a shot on the eighth but he holed a 15 foot right to lefter on the ninth to turn in 34 and cut the lead to one.
A Smyth three putt on the eighth meant there was a tie at the top and the surging Fraser soon made it three players at the summit.
The 41-year-old eagled the second and birdied the seventh before giving the shot back on the next to turn in 34.
As many of the field were struggling with the ever increasing wind, Fraser used all his experience to birdie the 13th and 15th and move to 13 under.
Sciot-Siegrist bogeyed the eighth to fall to 11 under, one ahead of Quayle, who carded a 67, and Millar who signed for a 68.
Morgan and Ashley Hall were still out on course at ten under.
