After Australia were all out for 445 midway through the third morning, the tourists reached 3-27 when a fifth rain delay of the day stopped play.
With play delayed on four separate occasions in the morning session, players returned for 10 minutes after lunch before two more heavy downpours stopped play.
Those showers threatened to ruin a large part of the middle session, on a day where ground staff have been the busiest people at the venue.
Ground staff have been called upon on numerous occasions on day three at the Gabba. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS)
Mitchell Starc in particular has been superb in between the periods of rain.
He took wickets in each of his first two overs, before a brilliant piece of fielding from the quick allowed Josh Hazlewood to remove Virat Kohli.
The left-armer had Yashavi Jaiswal out second ball for four, when the opener inexplicably hit Starc straight to Mitch Marsh at forward square leg.
In Starc's next over he had Shubman Gill caught in the gully, this time wonderfully taken by a diving Marsh who moved high and to his left.
Mitch Marsh and Mitchell Starc celebrate the spectacular dismissal of Shubman Gill. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS)
Starc was then influential again for Australia's next wicket, when he dived to cut off a KL Rahul hook shot near the boundary and keep it to one.
Next ball, Hazlewood drew the edge of a driving Kohli to have him caught behind for three, continuing the Indian mega star's horror run in first innings.
Further rain is forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, meaning Australia may need to only bat once to have time to win the game and claim a 2-1 series lead.
In order to do that, they will need to bowl India out for 245 or less in their first dig.
After Steve Smith and Travis Head's hundreds put Australia on the front foot on Sunday, Carey's 70 ensured they would push towards a big first-innings total on Monday.
He brought up his 50 in the second over of the day when he swept Ravindra Jadeja for four, and later jumped down the deck to hit Akash Deep for six over long off.
That is absolutely massive from Alex Carey!— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/G0h3CPKlu0December 16, 2024
Starc also landed some lofty blows off Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah, before becoming the latter's sixth victim of the innings when he was caught behind.
Bumrah's figures of 6-76 marked the best by an Indian at the Gabba, while the rest of their bowlers collected 4-352 between them.
After rain washed out most of day one, a draw would be a significant blow to Australia's hopes of regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
India would therefore need to win only one of the last two Tests to retain the trophy, given a drawn series would ensure they hold onto the prize as the current holders.
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