Australia hung on for a sensational draw in the first test against Pakistan after opening batsman Usman Khawaja scored a patient century on the last day Thursday.

Needing an improbable 462 runs for victory, Australia batted for a draw and survived a testing last hour eight wickets down.

After legspinner Yasir Shah snared Khawaja, Mitchell Starc, and Peter Siddle within eight balls, Australia captain Tim Paine, 61 not out, and No. 10 batsman Nathan Lyon, 5 not out, held out against Pakistan.

Australia finished on 362-8, its longest fourth innings for a draw, after 202 in the first innings.

Pakistan scored 482 and 181-6 declared.

All of Khawaja's 8 1/2-hour toil in which he scored 141 off 302 balls seemed to have gone in vain when Shah claimed him and two other quick wickets to give back Pakistan a big sniff of victory.

But Paine and Lyon thwarted Pakistan bowlers over the last 12 overs to pull off a remarkable draw.

Khawaja and Paine seemed to be carrying Australia to safety in their sixth-wicket stand lasting 36 overs.

But just after the left-handed Khawaja made the highest score by any visiting batsman in Asia, passing Daniel Vettori's 140 in 2009 in Colombo, he was out. He missed a sweep shot off Shah's delivery around the wicket and was plumb leg before wicket.

Starc was brilliantly snapped up on 1 close to the wicket by Babar Azam, and Siddle fell lbw for zero off a sharp Shah delivery.

But Paine and Lyon batted resolutely against Shah (4-114), seamer Mohammad Abbas (3-56), and offspinner Bilal Asif, who took six wickets in the first innings but none in the second.

Earlier, Pakistan had to wait until after lunch to get the day's first breakthrough when Mohammad Hafeez had Travis Head (72) lbw off the very first ball with the second new ball.

This ended a brilliant 132-run, fourth-wicket stand as Head dug in on a wearing pitch in his debut test. He hit five fours in his 175-ball knock.

Khawaja completed his century off 224 balls with 10 fours. Then Shah claimed his first wicket of the match by snaring Marnus Labuschagne (13) lbw off a quicker legbreak.

Pakistan came close to dismissing Khawaja on 109, but Azhar Ali's throw from long off missed the stumps at the non-striker's end with the batsman way out of his crease.

Australia resumed the day on 136-3, needing an unlikely 326 more runs to win.

Khawaja and Head added 79 runs together in the first session, and Khawaja led them in gathering 74 more in the second session. Khawaja departed an hour into the last session, but he'd given his teammates a blueprint on how to defend.