Nearly 25,000 fans at the event today.

Meanwhile, Thiem holds and it’s 3-3. The fans are getting booted out in just over an hour, come what may.

A brilliant serve-volley by Krygios. Thiem is standing a loooong way back on the Australian’s first serve, so the underarm serve – or a booming big first serve and then coming to the net – both seem to work well. The Australian takes the game and leads 3-2 in the fifth set. He continues to pick the odd verbal joust with the umpire.

In the women’s singles Ferro has fought back to 3-3 with Swiatek.

Djokovic is 4-3 up on Fritz in the second set of their men’s singles.

Someone in the crowd strikes up with an “Aussie Aussie Aussie!” to try and get their man going. Thiem wins with fourth set, awarded the final point for hindrance, after Kyrgios made a noise during the rally having thought he’d sent a shot long.

“So Azarenka’s grunt is fine, but that’s not fine?” objects Kyrgios to the umpire. That is deeply odd, to bring Victoria Azarenka into it …

Anyway, it’s 2-2.

“There is nothing more interesting than two players who genuinely believe they ‘should’ win a match, this is one of those games,” emails Nicolaas Van den Broek. “No inferiority/superiority complexes, just uncompromising focus to achieve an end. I think we have a classic on our hands here … I’m wildly predicting an appropriate Kyrgios ‘between the legs’ or the Thiem ‘backhand cross-court stunner for the match-point winner as an appropriate end, thoughts?”

A hold to love for Kyrgios, including one phenomenally well-judged drop shot. The crowd is up again. It’s 2-1 in the fifth, with serve.

Kyrgios sends a sumptuous volley into the corner for 15-15 but Thiem takes control again and holds comfortably. “Too good,” admits Kyrgios. It’s 1-1 in the fifth and final set.

Kyrgios holds to love. He then sprints into position for the start of the second game of the final set. He’s trying to gee himself up for another big push.

Swiatek, the French Open champion from Poland, is 3-0 up on Ferro in the first set of their third-round women’s singles match.

It’s 2-2 in sets. That was a bit odd – what looked to be a fine winner down the line from Kyrgios was called out. It looked in on TV, and Thiem himself looked surprised that it was called wide. Anyway, the Austrian world No 3 is back on terms. He looks more mobile and fitter in the longer rallies and well placed to find a victory here having been blasted off the court in the first two sets. We are into the fifth and final set of what’s been a remarkable match – not least because the impending Covid-19 lockdown in Victoria hangs over it.

Angry Kyrgios is suddenly effective Kyrgios, and he forces a break point having handed the first point of this game to his opponent after smashing a ball away in disgust. But he sends a forehand long, and it’s back to deuce.

In a fit of pique, Kyrgios smashes a ball away, and is punished with a point by the umpire, so he goes into this important game trailing 15-0 already.

Whoah! Great stuff from Thiem. He breaks, he leads 5-4, and will serve to make it 2-2 in sets.

Djokovic won the first-set tiebreak easily against Fritz, 7-1, and now leads 2-1 in the second. Swiatek has just begun her match against the Frenchwoman Ferro.

Thiem has his opponent at 15-40 but Kyrgios fights back to deuce. Kyrgios tries another utterly random ‘tweener’ with the point at his mercy. He misses by a long way. He loses the next point and it’s break point for Thiem after a cracking return.

Sabu Cherian emails from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India: “If you are a fan of Nick Kyrgios, watching him play is a little bit like watching Rishabh Pant bat. You don’t know what’s gonna happen next … It is the element of eccentricity and unpredictability that he brings to the sport that keeps people glued to the TV, and the ones in the stands cheering him.”

There are very few, if any, masks on show among this lively crowd, which is odd when you consider the Covid-19 situation is considered serious enough to be going into a hard lockdown in just over two hours’ time.

Meanwhile, Thiem is serving at 4-3 to Kyrgios. The Austrian digs out a stunning cross-court winner for 40-0 and then wraps up the game. That’s 36 out of 37 points on serve – 10 of the last 14 service games have been held to love. It’s 4-4.

It’s 4-3 in the fourth. Kyrgios finds plenty of rhythm with his own serve, and holds to love.

Thiem holds for 2-2 – again to love – and has now won 27 points in a row on his own serve. The rallies are getting longer which is playing into Thiem’s hands so far.

Kyrgios answers back with a hold of his own, and leads 3-2 in the fourth.

Djokovic is into a first-set tiebreak with against Taylor Fritz. Meanwhile Auger Alliassime has wrapped up a straight-sets win against Shapovalov, 7-5, 7-5, 6-3.

Kyrgios holds for 2-1 in games, and leads 2-1 in sets.

“Kyrgios has said that it is important for him to have fun on court,” emails Thomas Traill. “Perhaps playing the odd unnecessary trick shot helps him relax and play better overall.”

Thanks for the email Thomas. Perhaps – although it looked to me more like a lack of concentration rather than a tactic to try and loosen himself up. You’re fundamentally right though, of course, Kyrgios looks at his best when he can play to the crowd and pull off a few trick shots. Any player that seals a set with an underarm serve ace against the world No 3 is obviously a natural showman.

Kyrgios runs down a Thiem drop shot, hits a winner, and then embarks on a celebratory knee-pumping run into Thiem’s half of the court. The crowd roar. It’s 1-1 with Kyrgios looking likely to hold for 2-1 in the fourth.

Set-by-set, unforced errors by Kyrgios have gone 11-3-10, and now he has made eight unforced errors in this fourth set already. He does look to be tiring. Thiem, by the way, has now won 24 points in a row on his serve, since being 15-40 down in the first game of the third. Astonishing!

If you’re just joining us – the news is that Victoria is going into a five-day hard lockdown as of 11.59pm tonight. Which means the fans all have to leave by 11.30pm latest, which is in just over two hours’ time. As things stand, play will continue as normal throughout the five-day lockdown.

Kyrgios leads 1-0 in the fourth, having saved two break points in that last game, which was the longest of the match.

This is turning into a marathon game, with some marathon rallies. Thiem saves another game point with a beautiful drop. Another advantage for Kyrgios, and he tries an underarm serve, which Thiem runs down and wins the point. And now back to advantage for Kyrgios after a booming serve that Thiem can’t get back.

Thiem takes Kyrgios to deuce on the Australian’s serve in the first. A marathon rally, with advantage to Kyrgios, then ends with the home favourite sending a forehand wide … and now it’s advantage Thiem after another unforced error by Krygios. He is visibly losing focus. He now seems to be complaining to the umpire about the crowd noise – ‘People are just screaming out’ – having done his best to whip them up into a frenzy.

The Austrian world No 3 was on the ropes, and nearly knocked out, but he has fought back impressively. Kyrgios, seemingly waving the white flag in the set, tries an outrageous (and unnecessary) ‘tweener’ from the baseline and puts it into the net. He leads 2-1 in sets, still, but is the party over?

A beautifully judged drop shot by the Aussie sets up 40-0 and he holds for 5-3. Thiem will serve for third set.

Djokovic, meanwhile, is 4-2 up on Fritz in the first.

The French Open champion, Iga Swiatek, is in action soon against world No 46 Fiona Ferro in the women’s singles. Swiatek is ranked No 17 in the world.

Thiem digs out a brilliant one-handed backhand from right on his toes on the baseline, before coming to the net and winning the point and the game for 5-2 in the third. That’s 16 unanswered points now on Thiem’s serve.

It’s 4-2 to Thiem in the third as Kyrgios holds.

The raucous home crowd were on the feet when Kyrgios made it 2-0 in sets a few minutes ago. They are a little quieter now in the face of this fightback by the Austrian. Kyrgios looked on the verge of getting a break up in this third set, but Thiem has found something from somewhere.

Kyrgios butchers a forehand return high and wide. “Yeah, good return Nick, well done,” he tells himself loudly, to laughter from the crowd. Thiem holds serve comfortably for 4-1 and the momentum is very much with him.

Men’s singles: The Canadian 14th seed Milos Raonic survived a mid-match wobble to beat Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

Thiem leads 3-0 in the third! From 15-40 down in the opening game of the set, Thiem hasn’t lost a point. He looked all at sea – no, he was all at sea – but he has finally grabbed some momentum back from his opponent and the crowd has quietened down. At least for now.

Djokovic leads 2-1 in the first against Fritz.