Brett Lee let his emotions run free in a mid-pitch celebration after taking his 200th Test wicket, overshadowing an abusive exchange between Shane Warne and South African paceman Andre Nel.
Resuming on 2-140 on the third day of the second Test, South Africa was bowled out at tea for 267 including a patient 114 from Jacques Kallis.
Lee performed his trademark leap into the air after taking 5-69, including four of the last five wickets to fall as Australia claimed 5-12 in 40 deliveries with the second new ball.
Australia was 1-125 at stumps, an overall lead of 227. First-innings century-maker Ricky Ponting was on 48 not out and opener Matthew Hayden moved slowly to 35 not out on a two-paced Durban pitch. Justin Langer made 37.
Lee and Nel provided a lively finale to South Africa's first innings with the pair trading glares in what was mostly a light-hearted contest.
However, a sound-effects microphone picked up leg-spinner Warne (2-80) hurling abuse at Nel, calling him a "soft***k" and a "f***ing dill".
Lee, 29, said he respected Nel and enjoyed his posturing and staring-down battle with the tailender.
"He (Nel) is an animated character. I was pretty fired up, pretty pumped," said Lee after becoming the 12th Australian to take 200 Test wickets.
"I was trying as hard as I possibly could to try to take his wicket, he was trying to smack me down the ground, it was a great moment in Test cricket.
"I was pretty relieved after I got his wicket (at 9-267). I was smiling at him and he just said, 'well bowled, you were too good'."
Lee's seventh five-wicket haul brings his career tally to 202 wickets in 51 Tests, the same number of matches pace bowling legend Jeff Thomson played for his 200 dismissals.
Lee, who raised both arms in triumph after bowling Mark Boucher to claim his 200th wicket, said he knew if he could get at least one more wicket he would go past "Thommo".
"You look at guys like Jeff Thomson growing up, you look at them as being heroes. To go past a guy who has achieved so much, it's a pretty special thing," he said.
Lee took the last four wickets to fall, having Shaun Pollock caught behind and bowling Boucher before claiming Nel and Makhaya Ntini with successive deliveries to be on a hat-trick in South Africa's second innings.
Australia had started the day confronting two dramas, with Andrew Symonds named in a South African newspaper over a nightclub incident and Kallis edging towards his 24th century. Second-gamer Stuart Clark picked up the prize wicket of Kallis caught and bowled at 6-255 to spark the home team's late collapse.
"It was an important period when the second new ball came around, and unfortunately we collapsed a little bit," said Kallis, who described his dismissal and several others as "soft".
Lee said Kallis had batted brilliantly in his 345-minute innings on a two-paced pitch.
"When Clarky got his wicket it just set that whole snowball effect, we really lifted again," Lee said.
Clark (2-37) had removed opener AB De Villiers for 50, breaking a 134-run stand for the third wicket with Kallis.
Kallis, 30, said he was still carrying the elbow injury which caused an early end to his Australian tour.
"It's not 100 per cent but I got an injection a couple of days before the game and I'm sure that will help get me through until the end of the season," he said.
A witness to the incident involving Symonds said the dreadlocked Queenslander had voluntarily left the Hemisphere nightclub on March 18, the night of Australia's win in the first Test in Cape Town, after having an argument with a drinking companion of South African captain Graeme Smith.
An Australian team spokesperson said it was unlikely Symonds would face any disciplinary action.