Alex Davies hit his first century for Lancashire and shared a mammoth stand with Dane Vilas (92) worth 183 runs to help the visitors close in on victory at Chelmsford in the first match of the season.
The wicketkeeper-batsman spent last season sidelined with a persistent knee injury, but he advanced from his overnight score of 50* to reach three figures shortly after lunch.
Vilas, meanwhile, scored his second half-century of the game and his third in four innings including the pre-season game at Cambridge, helping Lancashire to declare on 317/2 and set a daunting target of 478.
On the hottest day of the year so far, Essex's bowlers toiled throughout the morning and much of the afternoon while Davies and Vilas made the most of an increasingly flat wicket. Essex replied by closing 89/2, still needing 389 more runs to achieve the third-highest run chase in County Championship history.
Liam Livingstone (28) was the only casualty of the morning session for Lancashire when he picked out Nick Browne in the covers off Aaron Beard (2-45), shortly after achieving a fifty-partnership with Davies. Boundaries started to flow regularly before lunch, as Davies attacked Neil Wagner's (0-54) hostile approach by rocking onto the back foot and opening up room through the off-side.
He took a similar liking to the spinner Simon Harmer (0-78), who was nowhere near as potent as he was on the first day. Davies advanced at will, pulling out the reverse-sweep frequently to edge ever close to a so far elusive first-class hundred.
Vilas' approach was not too dissimilar and the free-scoring approach of both batsmen allowed Lancashire to reach lunch on 212/2 with a healthy lead of 372. Davies entered the interval three runs shy of a maiden century in Lancashire colours, but he soon reached his hundred in 214 balls with 17 fours.
Having retreated into his shell on the approach to his century, Davies resumed his carefree approach to help register the hundred-partnership with Vilas, who soon had his second fifty of the match in 106 deliveries. Davies had his share of luck on the way to three figures after being dropped by Tom Westley on 10 and Ryan ten Doeschate on 26, but Wagner's drop at long-on came when Essex were already throughly dejected, only serving to rub salt into the wounds.
It became a question of when Lancashire were prepared to call it a day and set Essex a target, although with Vilas also approaching his first ton for the Red Rose, it was unlikely they would declare in a hurry. With Lancashire intent on having a crack at the Essex openers before tea, Vilas was forced to play outside of his comfort zone and he had his stumps rearranged by Jamie Porter (1-60) on 92.
Lancashire declared on 317/2 with Davies unbeaten on 140, with Luke Sutton's record (151*) as the highest first-class score by a wicketkeeper still intact. A partnership of 183 runs inside 48 overs threatened to leave Essex distracted from their purpose, but Varun Chopra and Browne (18) ensured there were no mistakes in the seven overs before tea.
Stephen Parry (1-26) struck soon after the break at the start of his third over, although Browne will have been disappointed to swat a half-tracker straight to Haseeb Hammed at mid-wicket. Chopra (29) fell shortly afterwards when Ryan McLaren (1-18) removed his off-stump after a consistent spell, reducing the hosts to 52/2 towards the end of the third day.
Westley (27*) and Dan Lawrence (13*) steadied Essex through this rocky patch to finish on 89/2, with James Anderson performing captaincy duties in the absence of Steven Croft, who was off the field with a bruised thumb.
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