Australia on Monday beat England by five wickets on the fifth day of the fourth Ashes Test, but only after a dramatic batting collapse chasing just 107 for victory.

Resuming at their overnight score of eight with all their wickets intact, Australia lost opener Matthew Hayden for one, Ricky Ponting for 30, Damien Martyn for a duck, captain Steve Waugh for 14 and opener Justin Langer for 24.

It was left to debutant Martin Love (six not out) and wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist (10 not out) to retrieve the situation and take the home team to victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with Gilchrist smashing a boundary through point for the winning runs.

England's pace bowlers made Australia work hard for their runs with Steve Harmison (2-43) and Andy Caddick (3-51) sending back the top half of the batting order with just 90 runs on the board.

Australia now lead the five-match series 4-0 with the fifth Test starting in Sydney on Thursday.

Yorkshire opener Michael Vaughan hit 145 before Australia dismissed England, who had been asked to follow on, for 387 in their second innings 18 minutes before the scheduled close of play on Sunday.

Vaughan became the highest run-scorer for the 2002 calendar year, passing Sachin Tendulkar's 1,392. His 1,481 runs from 14 tests puts him behind only former West Indies captain Viv Richards who had amassed 1,710 runs in 11 tests in 1976.

Leg-spinner Stuart MacGill, recalled for his first Test in 11 months following a shoulder injury to Shane Warne, took two for 108 from 36 overs in the first innings and five for 152 from a marathon 48 overs in the second.

Seamer Jason Gillespie returned match figures of seven for 96.

Waugh had last Thursday won the toss and opted to bat as the home side pressed home their advantage with a massive first innings total of 551 for six declared, including centuries from Justin Langer (250) and Matthew Hayden (102).

With the win, Waugh passed Allan Border's Australia record of 32 test wins (in 93 tests).

The 37-year-old skipper set the record in his 44th match. He was appointed captain after Mark Taylor's retirement ahead of the 1999 Caribbean tour.