The dashing left-hander advanced into three figures off 85 balls, breaking the record of West Indies batsman Dwayne Smith who had accomplished the milestone off 93 balls against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town in January 2004.
Dhawan, who finished the day at unbeaten 185, and fellow opener Murli Vijay (83 not out) drove up the hosts to 283-0 at stumps in their first innings, the highest first wicket partnership for India against Australia.
Dhawan’s whirlwind 168-ball vigil has so far seen 33 boundaries and two sixes while Vijay has cracked 10 fours and two sixes in his cautious 181-ball knock.
Earlier, Mitchell Starc fell one short of his maiden Test hundred, while Steve Smith missed his by eight runs, as tourists’ lower-order resisted India to manage 408 in the first innings.
The two added 135 runs to Australia’s overnight total of 273, as they dominated over hosts for almost the entire morning session.
For India, Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja claimed three while Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha bagged two wickets apiece.
India is leading the four-match series 2-0 after recording massive wins in Mumbai and Hyderabad.