WA in sight of Sheffield Shield crown

After earning more bonus points in the first innings, WA only need to draw the match to claim their first Shield title since 1999.

It was a far cry from the start of the day when WA recommenced at a shaky 3-93, which soon became 5-110.

Whiteman made 123 in a marathon 338-ball innings, batting for over seven hours until he was dismissed late in the day misjudging a Will Sutherland delivery that cannoned into his stumps.

Whiteman, who scored 85 in the first innings, faced 517 balls in the match, just 33 deliveries shy of the all-time record in a Shield final.

Whiteman took his aggregate for the season to 641 runs, behind only Victoria captain Peter Handscomb.

Hardie posted his second first-class ton and highest Shield score to finish the day on 119 not out.

Victoria made a double breakthrough after an hour's play with allrounder Teague Wyllie (23) and the hard-hitting Josh Philippe (1) dismissed in successive overs.

But Whiteman was intent on digging in and found a willing ally in Hardie, the last of WA's recognised batters.

The pair scored at less than two an over before picking up the scoring in the final session in a 174-run stand, crucially seeing off the new ball along the way.

"When I came in they were coming pretty hard at us and the game was probably in the balance, and I tried to build a partnership with him which came off," said Hardie.

"Once we had worn them down after the 100-over mark we started to get on top a little bit."

Though going wicketless on day four, the unrelenting Scott Boland remains the best of the Vics' bowlers with 2-29 from 21 overs.

"We had a sniff there at 5-110, we just needed one more wicket and a little bit of luck and we were into the tail," said Victoria coach Chris Rogers.

"We have nothing to lose now, we have to try and knock them over quickly and bat out of our skin."