Australia captain Steve Waugh scored his 32nd century in the second test against Bangladesh on Sunday as cricket's top-ranked side moved within six wickets of a 2-0 series sweep.

Waugh declared at 556 for four at tea on the third day, in reply to Bangladesh's first-innings 295. Australia's bowlers then claimed four for 106 before the end of day's play with Bangladesh requiring another 155 to make Australia bat again.

Sanwar Hossain on six and Alok Kopali on 10 were at the crease.

Hannan Sarkar hit eight boundaries in his 55 and put on 75 for the second wicket with Habibul Bashar (25) before Bangladesh lost both batsmen and Mohammad Ashraful (0) in seven balls for three runs.

Earlier, Waugh hit his second successive hundred, reaching 156 not out to move into second on the all-time centuries list behind India's Sunil Gavaskar (34).

The 38-year-old Waugh was involved in two major partnerships, including an unbeaten fifth-wicket stand of 174 with Martin Love who made 100 not out, his maiden Test century.

Waugh also added 250 for the fourth wicket with Darren Lehmann, who was out for his highest test score of 177 in the morning session.

Resuming on 351 for three, Australia added 104 runs in the morning session and a further 101 after lunch.

Lehmann's century was his third in five Tests and his innings included 22 boundaries.

His 233-minute partnership with Waugh, who hit 17 boundaries, ended when Lehmann backed away and played a lofted drive to cover off the bowling of Tapash Baisya and was caught by Mohammad Ashraful.

Love, playing in his home state of Queensland, overcame a nervous start to score an elegant hundred off 154 balls with seven boundaries before Waugh immediately declared after 139.2 overs of suffering for Bangladesh.

Captain Khaled Mahmud, described in the media guide as a 'pint-sized all-rounder', gave away 75 runs off 19 overs of slow-medium pace as his career bowling average ballooned to 406.

Australia's total was the highest conceded by Bangladesh in their three-year history in Tests, beating Sri Lanka's 555-5 declared at Colombo in September 2001.

It was the seventh time Bangladesh had conceded 500 runs or more in an innings.

Waugh, the game's most-capped player and most successful captain, has hit four Test centuries this year and opposing players rushed to shake his hand at the change of innings on Sunday.

Waugh and Lehmann had scored hundreds in last week's first Test.

Top-ranked Australia lead the two-match series 1-0 after Bangladesh, who have not won a Test in 20 attempts, lost the first Test in Darwin last week inside three days by an innings and 132 runs.

Scoreboard at end of the third day's play: 

Bangladesh 1st Innings: 295

Australia 1st Innings: (overnight 351-3)
J Langer c Javed Omar b Mashrafe Mortaza                1
M Hayden b Sanwar Hossain                                     50
R Ponting c Mohammad Ashraful b Sanwar Hossain   59
D Lehmann c Mohammad Ashraful b Tapash Baisya  177
S Waugh   not out                                                     156
M Love     not out                                                     100

Extras: (lb:11 nb:1 w:1)                                       13

Total: (for four wickets declared, 139.2 overs)    556

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-105, 3-132, 4-382.

Bowling: Mashrafe Mortaza 25-7-60-1, Tapash Baisya 26-5-96-1, Anwar Hossain 21-4-95-0, Khaled Mahmud 19-3-75-0, Sanwar Hossain 30-2-128-2, Alok Kopali 14.2-0-69-0, Mohammad Ashraful 4-0-22-0.

Bangladesh 2nd Innings:
Hannan Sarkar c Hayden b MacGill           55
Javed Omar lbw b Gillespie                         8
Habibul Bashar c Langer b Lee                  25
Mohammad Ashraful c Ponting b MacGill    0
Sanwar Hossain  not out                             6
Alok Kopali        not out                           10

Extras: (nb:2)                                          2

Total: (for four wickets, 35 overs)       106

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-87, 3-90, 4-90.

To bat: Khaled Mashud, Khaled Mahmud, Tapash Baisya, Mashrafe Mortaza, Anwar Hossain

Bowling: McGrath 7-3-16-0, Gillespie 6-1-18-1, MacGill 11-2-27-2, Lee 11-2-45-1.