Australia need six wickets in the final session to wrap up a 3-0 series sweep of a bedraggled New Zealand after David Warner and Nathan Lyon dominated the visitors with bat and ball respectively on day four at the SCG.

Set a notional 416 for victory, New Zealand were swiftly in trouble, losing Tom Blundell, Tom Latham, Jeet Raval and Glenn Phillips in quick succession on a wearing pitch to be 4 for 27 at tea, with a minimum 37 overs still to be bowled. Lyon, alternating sharp spin and straighter deliveries with plenty of bounce, grabbed a wicket in each of his first two overs after Mitchell Starc had claimed Blundell and Latham.

Under overcast skies, the hosts piled up 132 runs before lunch, with Warner scooting from 23 overnight to a century shortly after lunch. His eight most recent Test innings at the SCG now read 111 not out, 45, 56, 55, 113, 122 not out, 4 and 101.

Joe Burns and Marnus Labuschagne provided ready support although Warner and Labuschagne were somewhat contentiously penalised five runs for running on the pitch by the umpire Aleem Dar late in Australia's innings. Labuschagne's dismissal brought Tim Paine's closure.

They were aided by a New Zealand side that seemed mainly to be waiting for the inevitable declaration although Todd Astle bowled nicely to deceive Joe Burns, and should have dismissed Labuschagne caught-and-bowled for the second time in the match, only to drop a simpler chance than in the first innings.

The Australians showed their intent to score very early on as Warner worked the ball around and ran with intent in between regular boundaries, while Burns danced down the wicket to loft William Somerville nonchalantly over the boundary in front of the SCG's venerable Members Stand.

Astle had more success when introduced, beating Burns with a big legbreak off the last ball of his first over of the day and then pinning him lbw with a googly on the front foot with the first delivery of his second - albeit only after Tom Latham reviewed Aleem Dar's not-out verdict.

Labuschagne was fortunate to survive the return catch he offered Astle soon after, but he was quickly into stride alongside Warner as Australia pushed their lead close to 400 by the time of the lunch interval. The rate lifted further on resumption, and Warner was soon toasting his 24th Test century.

Labuschagne was warned and then penalised by Dar for running on what the umpire deemed to be the danger area of the pitch shortly afterwards, and the batsman's dismissal - with an eye-popping aggregate of 896 runs for the five-Test home season - brought the declaration.

Blundell, who has found the going harder after his Melbourne century, was out to a superb diving catch from Lyon at point after he had thrown everything at a wide ball from Starc. Latham was a victim of a somewhat aggressive lbw decision by umpire Maris Erasmus, the ball looking a fair chance of slipping past the leg stump and only shown to be barely clipping it on ball-tracking. In that way, it was a near action replay of Kane Williamson's dismissal on the final day of the MCG Test.

Raval was not convinced either that he had edged a Lyon offbreak through to Paine, though Real-Time Snicko showed a spike to confirm Dar's decision. Phillips also reviewed when he too edged Lyon into Paine's gloves but was quickly on his way when HotSpot showed a clear mark on the bat.