Great Britain are one win away from the Davis Cup final after Andy and Jamie Murray beat Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth in the doubles.

The dramatic 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 victory gives Britain a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five tie in Glasgow.

If Andy Murray wins the opening reverse singles match on Sunday, Britain will be through to a first final since they finished runners-up in 1978.

The winners will face either Belgium or Argentina in the final in November.

Murray is expected to face Australian number one Bernard Tomic and, if needed, Dan Evans would take on Thanasi Kokkinakis in the final singles match, although the line-ups can be changed up to an hour before play starts at 13:00 BST.

‘We stuck together like brothers should’

Andy Murray on BBC Two:

“It was an incredible match, to come back from the disappointment of losing the fourth set.

“We kept creating chances, we stuck together like brothers should and managed to come up with enough good returns.

“We had to keep the energy up at the beginning of the fifth set – it was important for us to get a good start.”

Jamie Murray:

“We let it slip a bit but we kept fighting and got right back on it. It was so good, it was so noisy, it was magic.

“Scottish people don’t get the chance to see Andy play very much and when they do they let him know it.”

Lleyton Hewitt:

“All Davis Cup doubles is a lot of ebbs and flows. We just kept fighting.”

Sam Groth:

“Obviously it hurts to lose a match like that, but for me it’s an unbelievable thing to be able to pull on the green and gold and play in front of a crowd like that.”

British pair hold their nerve in decider

Both teams had their chances, and all four men endured dips and surges in form, but it was the brothers who edged it after a nerve-jangling three hours and 56 minutes.

When they led 30-0, with Andy Murray serving for victory, it appeared the win would be wrapped up in four sets.

However, the British pair could not convert and an inspirational Hewitt, playing in his last Davis Cup campaign, dragged Australia back from the brink.

The first two sets were split with a break apiece, and things were looking bleak for the home side at 4-1 down in the third.

Groth was proving the dominant man on court and the shouts of “Come on!” from 34-year-old Hewitt were increasingly audible among the 8,000 largely home fans.

It took a brilliant rally on defence from both Murrays to set up the crucial break back at 4-2 down, and two games later Jamie Murray leapt to put away a smash, roaring in delight as a second break was secured.

Andy Murray made it five games in a row to seal the set and put the brothers on course for the same kind of turnaround they managed against France in the quarter-final.

The visitors fought back in the fourth and had three set points at 5-4, but when Jamie Murray battled back on serve and the brothers then broke Hewitt for 6-5, victory was within sight.

From a 30-0 deficit, a rasping Hewitt backhand gave Australia a lifeline, and they sent shockwaves around the arena by edging the tie-break after he saved a match point at the net.

A thrilling decider saw Britain surge into a 3-0 lead, Australia peg them back to 3-3, and Groth then save four break points in game seven, as the momentum lurched from one side of the net to the other.

The end finally came on Groth’s serve, after he left a return that dropped on the baseline before Andy Murray pounced at the net and with a forehand return.

A second match point had arrived, and this time Groth could only steer a volley long, sending the Emirates Arena into a state of some pandemonium as the Murray brothers hugged in celebration.

‘If Andy can play, he should play’

There was not much doubt that Leon Smith would select Andy Murray on Saturday after a swift singles win over Kokkinakis on Friday, but the British captain could still have chosen in-form doubles specialist Dom Inglot.

“Andy is the best player across both teams and if he can play, he should play,” said Smith.

“Not only that, Andy and Jamie together are a great pair and what they did against France was absolutely outstanding, and they’ve done it again today. I think it was the right decision.”