Captain Stephen Waugh admitted he had never played in such a complete Australian performance after his team surged to a record-breaking win against South Africa in Johannesburg today.

The Australians celebrated into the night after beating South Africa by an innings and 360 runs in the first Test at the Wanderers.

It was the second biggest win in Test cricket history, littered with team and individual records including Adam Gilchrist's fastest Test double century.

Waugh's team also posted Australia's highest total against South Africa while Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath moved into second and eighth spots on Test cricket's all-time wicket-taking list.

Waugh has played 146 Tests through good and bad times in Australian cricket, including the world record of 16 consecutive Test wins.

But the 36-year-old said he could not remember a better team performance.

"It was a great performance," Waugh said.

"We put them under enormous pressure and that's what Test match cricket is all about - whether you can handle the pressure.

"In this game South Africa didn't. They may handle it better next game. It is certainly going to be very difficult to come back from here."

Stand-in South African captain Mark Boucher insisted the Proteas could come back in this series despite losing four Test matches to Australia this summer by 246 runs, nine wickets and 10 wickets before today's collapse.

The Proteas scored just 159 and 133 in reply to Australia's 7-652 declared, and the Test finished after tea on the third day.

Warne took six wickets for the match, including 4-44 in the second innings, while McGrath's match haul of 8-49 included 5-21 in the second innings.

Warne now has 436 Test wickets - second to West Indian great Courtney Walsh (519) - while McGrath (385) moved past former England all-rounder Ian Botham (383).

Waugh said he wasn't surprised at the margin of the win even though this series will officially determine the International Cricket Council's best team.

"Our record has been pretty good over the last couple of years," Waugh said.

"You don't win 16 Test matches in a row if you are not a pretty good side. We played some superb cricket.

"We have excellent cricketers in this team and we all came together for this Test match and basically clicked.

"Everyone played pretty well. Once again we put enormous pressure on South Africa and they didn't respond.

"It gives me great satisfaction the way we played that Test match, the level at which we played and the intensity. We didn't drop off for any period at all."

The Australians will enjoy two rest days before travelling to Port Elizabeth for a four-day tour match against South Africa A, starting Friday.

They will then head to Cape Town, hoping to wrap up the series when the second Test begins on Friday week.

© 2002 AAP