The South Australian won the opening two sets and was poised to complete a rare daily treble by Australian men, leading 5-2 in the third and with Alexei Popyrin and Alex de Minaur earlier banking rousing second round wins.

But instead he was left heartbroken – the Scot spoiling the party with a 4-6 6-7 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 7-5 defeat which lasted a staggering five hours 45 minutes.

The match came within 29 minutes of the latest grand slam finish – a 4.34am epic in 2008 at Melbourne Park when Lleyton Hewitt outlasted Marcos Bagdahtis.

With his early career ravaged by injury, Kokkinakis had never previously gone past the Open second round, only once before reaching the third round at a grand slam – in 2015 at the French Open.

It looked like his fortunes would change but never-say-die Murray refused to stay on script.

“It’s unbelievable that I managed to turn that around,” said the 35-year-old, with the match the longest of his stellar career.

“Thanasi was serving unbelievably well, hitting his forehand huge and I don’t know how I managed to get through it.

“I did start playing better as the match went on and I have a big heart.

“It’s amazing to win the match but now I want to go to bed.

“Everyone, including me, I think we should all get off to bed now.”

Visibly shattered as he left the court, Kokkinakis wasn’t available to media as he underwent treatment for an undisclosed condition.

Kokkinakis struggled to close out the first three sets, blowing five set points in the second before taking it in a tiebreak, and in the third he led 5-2.

The 26-year-old temporarily lost the plot when leading 2-0 in the third when he received a time violation on his serve after restarting his action when a fan called out.

A furious Kokkinakis stormed toward the chair umpire, remonstrating and saying it was payback because the umpire “felt bad” about giving Murray an earlier one.

Kokkinakis then lost the game as he failed to put away four overheads after Murray scrambled madly, with the Australian smashing his racquet into the court and earning a code violation.

Three-time major winner Murray, ranked 66, then used the chaos to consolidate, levelling at 2-2.

Kokkinakis managed to regroup, with his firepower giving him the chance to serve for the match at 5-4. However, another wobble allowed the wily Scot back in and the home hope surrendered the tiebreak with a wild volley.

Despite competing with a metal hip, Murray showed no signs of slowing down and dominated the fourth to put the match on level terms.

The pair went toe-to-toe in the fifth set – Kokkinakis saved four break points at 3-3 to stay on serve to the delight of the large Margaret Court Arena crowd who stayed until the death.

He then saved another four at 5-5, but Murray fired a forehand winner to conjure the break, allowing him to serve out the match.

Murray saved a serve for tournament officials for allowing the match to go ahead so late and was the latest player to criticise the Open balls.

“I don’t know who it’s beneficial for,” he said of the late finish.

“Rather than the discussion being about an epic Murray-Kokkinakis match it ends in a bit of a farce.

“If I had a ball kid who is coming home at 5am I’m snapping at that; it’s not beneficial for them, the umpires, the officials, I don’t think it’s amazing for the fans or good for players.”

-AAP