Martin’s round of 8-under par 64 was matched only by 2019 champion Matthew Millar and gives him a 10-under par total with one round to play, Nathan Barbieri (66), Michael Wright (67) and Adam Blyth (67) sharing second at 8-under.

Millar, Aaron Wilkin (69) and first round leaders Damien Jordan (71) and Josh Armstrong (71) are all tied for fifth at 7-under par, one shot clear of 2019 Gippsland Super 6 champion Tom Power Horan (65) and recent adidas Pro-Am Series winner James Grierson (68).

One-over through 15 holes on Thursday, Martin closed out his opening round with three consecutive birdies. Winner of The Players Series Sydney in March, the 36-year-old picked up where he left off on Friday with two more to start round two and added further birdies at five and eight to make the turn in 33.

Three more on the trot from the 10th hole and back-to-back birdies at 15 and 16 continued Martin’s surge and opened up a handy advantage going into Saturday’s final round.

“It is a good feeling to back on top of the leaderboard again,” said Martin, who equalled the world record for most eagles in a round in the final round of his win at Bonnie Doon Golf Club.

“My swing has been a bit rusty of late but today it started to work for me.”

A runner-up on three occasions before breaking through with a win two years ago, Millar began his second round from the 10th tee and seven shots off the pace but quickly started chipping away at the deficit.

He played the back nine in 4-under but it was a stretch of five birdies in six holes from the third hole that puts him three back of Martin and with a chance to successfully defend his title.

“I’ve played this event so many times – had some seconds and had a win on the last occasion – but you’ve usually got those four rounds in which to get there,” Millar said of the adjusted tournament format in 2021.

“Unfortunately yesterday has given me a lot of work to do rather than keeping pace near the front.

“Hopefully I can have another blinder tomorrow and not be too far away.”

A 4-hybrid to five feet at the 200-metre par-3 11th got Millar off on the right foot on Friday, using a better day with the driver to attack flags and generate plenty of birdie chances.

“It was nice to be back driving the ball the way I normally do, hitting it in a lot of fairways,” said Millar, whose longest birdie putt of the day was a 20-footer he holed at the par-4 sixth.

“Yesterday I hit a couple of loose ones that didn’t match up and ended up in a bit of strife.

“I hit a lot of good iron shots today too so a pretty solid day all round.

“The greens are holding quite well and the course is in good shape so it’s very scoreable out there.

“Conditions haven’t been that challenging so it’s very gettable if you’re hitting a few good ones and rolling some in.”

The top 50 players and ties after 36 holes now advance to Saturday’s third and final round with the top-16 plus ties after 54 holes to contest the one-day Ian Weigh Toyota Invitational on Sunday worth $15,000.

Round 3 will commence at 6.50am on Saturday with the leaders teeing off from 12pm.