Tourists have won their past two Tests at the venue and hold a slight advantage over the Proteas since readmission
Recent Durban history points to Aussies
It is nine years since Australia last played a Test match at Durban, a time when giants such as Ponting, Clarke and Johnson still ruled the cricket planet.
In all, they've played four Tests across the past 24 years in the South African coastal city overlooking the Indian Ocean, for two wins, a loss and a draw.
With the clock counting down to the first ball of this series, we take a look back at those four matches.
Third Test, March 1994
Australia (269 & 4-297) drew with South Africa (422)
Player of the match: Mark Waugh
This was supposed to be the epic climax of a gripping home-and-away series across the summer – the first time the two teams had met in Test cricket in the post-Apartheid era. It had been one-all across three Tests in Australia, and the scoreline was the same in South Africa heading into Durban.
When Allan Border's side was bowled out for 269 early on day two and the Proteas reached 100 without loss in reply, the contest looked theirs for the taking.
But a run-rate barely above two saw South Africa's innings stagnate, and ultimately they laboured for almost 14 hours over a total of 422, making 179 runs on the whole of day three.
It left Australia with four sessions to bat out the match, which they duly did courtesy of Michael Slater's 95 and a superb 113no from Mark Waugh, ensuring honours finished even for the summer.
Third Test, March 2002
Australia (315 & 186) lost to SA (167 & 5-340) by five wkts
Player of the match: Herschelle Gibbs
South Africa had been flattened by Hurricane Gilchrist in the first two Tests of this series, with the legendary 'keeper-batsman in the most destructive form of his career.
They were 2-0 down at home, and having lost 3-0 in Australia, they were desperate to avoid a double clean sweep at the hands of their bitter rivals – and it showed.
The Proteas conceded a big first-innings lead after Gilchrist (91) and Ricky Ponting (89) led the way for the Aussies with the bat, and Shane Warne (4-33) and Brett Lee (4-82) did the damage with the ball, but they turned the contest on its head spectacularly.
Makhaya Ntini and Jacques Kallis grabbed three wickets apiece to skittle the all-conquering Aussies for 186, before Herschelle Gibbs' 104, and half-centuries from Gary Kirsten and Kallis led the hosts to an improbable five-wicket win.
The run chase remains South Africa's highest winning effort on home soil in Tests.
Second Test, March 2006
Australia (369 & 4-307d) beat SA (267 & 297) by 112 runs
Player of the match: Shane Warne
Ricky Ponting had tormented the South Africans with a stunning return of three hundreds and three fifties in the previous four Tests, but the Aussie skipper took it up a notch in Durban.
Ponting's 103 was the lead hand in Australia's 369, before Brett Lee's 5-69 helped Australia to a 102-run first-innings lead.
Ponting (116) then teamed up with Matthew Hayden (102) and the pair's double-century stand allowed for a declaration, leaving South Africa needing 410 to win.
They managed 297 as Shane Warne (6-86) stole the headlines on the final day, as well as the player-of-the-match award from an unlucky Ponting.
Second Test, March 2009
Australia (352 & 5-331d) beat SA (138 & 370) by 175 runs
Player of the match: Phillip Hughes
Ponting led a post-golden era Australian side to take on Graeme Smith's men in South Africa, having just been beaten on home soil in a series for the first time in a generation.
But a surprise victory to the tourists in Johannesburg meant they could claim the return bout with success in Durban and square the ledger for the summer.
Playing just his second Test, the late Phillip Hughes produced an astonishing innings, crashing 115 from just 151 balls, and finding support in opening partner Simon Katich (108) as the Aussies racked up 352. Mitchell Johnson then struck twice in his opening over, before breaking a bone in the hand of Graeme Smith for the second time in the summer.
The Proteas barely recovered from the left-armer's spell, bowled out for 138, and by the time Hughes (160) had become the youngest man in history to score twin hundreds in a Test, the Aussies were well ahead in the game. Chasing 546 to win, the Proteas could only manage 370, largely through Jacques Kallis (93) and AB de Villiers (84), leaving Australia to celebrate a fourth-straight series success in their rivals' backyard.
Qantas tour of South Africa
South Africa squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada.
Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Jhye Richardson, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.
Warm-up match: Australia beat South Africa A by five wickets. Report, highlights
First Test Kingsmead, Durban, March 1-5. Live coverage
Second Test St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, March 9-13. Live coverage
Third Test Newlands, Cape Town, March 22-26. Live coverage
Fourth Test Wanderers, Johannesburg, March 30-April 3. Live coverage