England's hopes of Ashes glory were boosted by the London weather as the second day at The Oval was restricted to only two sessions.
Menacing grey clouds curtailed the Australian's reply to 373 before play was suspended after tea.
Openers Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer took control, sharing an unbroken 112-run stand but opted to accept an offer of bad light.
Langer, who dominated the scoring with an unbeaten 75, was the one who appeared to make the decision to go off.
Australia are 112 for no wickets going into the third day.
