Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott piled up a record, unbroken stand of 329 before England declared on an astounding 517 for one on the final afternoon of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba.

Cook's lion's share of England's run-laden rescue act was a career-best 235 not out, while Trott was exactly 100 runs behind him when Andrew Strauss decided it was time for a bowl again.

Cook, who on Sunday contributed to England's ground-record opening stand with his captain, ploughed mercilessly on to the highest individual score at this venue as he and Trott made a mockery of the perilous starting position of the tourists' second innings. By tea, Australia - set a notional 297 to win in 41 overs - had lost Simon Katich, fencing a catch to Strauss at slip off Stuart Broad, out of 11 for one in a match apparently nonetheless destined to end in a draw.

This is only the second time in England's history the top three batsmen have reached three figures in the same innings, the previous instance courtesy of Jack Hobbs, Herbert Sutcliffe and Wally Hammond in 1924. It is a unique Ashes achievement for a team who had set out late on the third day needing 221 runs just to make their hosts bat again and, according to many experts, with scant chance of escaping Brisbane 0-0.

Cook and Trott began a sunny morning with a partnership of 121 already under their belts - and then piled on another 208 in just 51 overs. Australia were in the field for more than four sessions, and long before the end of their torment were looking incapable of helping themselves.

That was certainly the impression when Michael Clarke, who had dropped barely a half-chance on Sunday when Trott was 34, put down a much easier one at slip after the same batsman glided a cut much too fine off Shane Watson on 75. An over later, Mitchell Johnson - operating at no runs, no wickets and one dropped catch so far in this series - hurled a wide so far down the leg-side it could be interpreted as symptomatic of a dispirited team.

Two sets of consecutive leg-byes, when Xavier Doherty's turn defeated Cook and Brad Haddin, brought up England's 400. They were not necessarily the wicketkeeper's fault but came as another blow to home morale, in front of a small crowd dominated by English cheers.

Cook and Trott's smattering of boundaries in the first hour were largely from controlled edges rather than the middle of either bat. Yet a wicket seemed unthinkable at times on a pitch which - despite ever widening cracks - was apparently better than ever for batting.

Watson switched to the Vulture Street end, only to concede the cover-driven boundary - through the errant Marcus North's hands - which took Cook, on his way to a maiden double-century, past his previous Test best of 173. Before the morning was out, he had become only the fourth Englishman to make a double-century down under - and when Strauss finally called him and Trott in, the left-hander had hit 27 fours from 428 balls and had batted for almost 10 and a half hours.

Trott's second hundred against these opponents in only his second Ashes Test hardly deserved to be relegated to a footnote. He finished with 19 fours from 266 balls.