Halfway co-leader at 10-under par, the Victorian made a birdie-bogey-birdie start but had to wait a long time for his next gain, carding 12 successive pars before notching a birdie at the 16th to move to 12-under.

A chance to play his way into the final group alongside Canadian Aaron Cockerill came up a couple of feet short on the 18th, the punctuation mark on a putting day where opportunities came and went with regularity.

His round of two-under 68 will place Herbert alongside Japanese player Rikuya Hoshino in the second-to-last group and with a target squarely on the back of Cockerill (64) who leads by one.

“There’s nothing else I want to do tomorrow other than win,” said Herbert, winner of the Dubai Desert Classic in 2020 and Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in 2021.

“I don’t know that I’m going to need to shoot a 63 tomorrow. Just a good, solid round that keeps the bogeys off the scorecard will probably go pretty close.”

Kiwi Daniel Hillier (69) produced a third straight under-par round to be in a tie for 20th at seven-under par, Queenslander Brad Kennedy falling to a share of 59th with a round of one-over 71.