Canterbury leads by 474 runs with eight wickets in hand and two days to play.
The mind boggles at what target Canterbury might set Otago. It was 272 for two at stumps, with Peter Fulton undefeated on 97 and Ken McClure on 47.
Volts coach Nathan King said his side had been in ''damage control'' since being dismissed for a paltry 91 in reply to Canterbury's first innings total of 293.
''The batting performance was poor, you can't deny that,'' King said.
''Canterbury bowled reasonably well but, at the end of the day, there was some pretty poor execution from us.''
Otago was bundled out in under 37 overs, which put pressure on its bowling attack when Canterbury opted against enforcing the follow on.
''Our three main bowlers had a massive work load [on Saturday] and to ask them to back up so quickly was always going to be really tough.''
Canterbury cashed in, scoring at 4.53 per over with Fulton, in particular, batting with freedom in his second dig.
Otago actually started well, with young opening bowler Jack Hunter (20) snaring two wickets in the first over of the game.
When fellow new ball bowler Michael Rae removed Fulton, Canterbury was in trouble at 12 for three.
McClure (26) and Cole McConchie (40) provided stiffer resistance, but the real sting was in the tail, No 9 batsman Logan van Beek and No 11 Will Williams putting on 104 for the 10th wicket.
It was a Canterbury 10th wicket record against Otago, eclipsing the previous mark set in 1908-09.
Van Beek (111) posted his maiden first-class century during the stand.
While Otago would have been frustrated Canterbury was able to escape the noose, Hunter's four for 47 and Rae's three for 54 was a good return for the inexperienced duo.
The problem was with the batting unit.
The Volts key trio of Brad Wilson, Neil Broom and Sam Wells all missed out, leaving the rest of the inexperienced order exposed.
Wells (19) and Broom (13) got starts and Nick Beard was the only other Otago batsman to reach double figures and top-scored with 22.
In Mt Maunganui, Auckland beat Northern Districts by three wickets in a match dominated by the bowlers.
The Aces chased 233 for victory. Half centuries from Colin Munro (50), Colin de Grandhomme (55) and Rob Nicol (59) paved the way for the win.
Northern Districts pace bowler Scott Kuggeleijn achieved career-best bowling of five for 32 during the match.
At stumps on day three in Nelson, Central Districts was 169 for four and leads by 201 runs.
Batsman George Worker scored 210 and featured in Central Districts record 10th wicket partnership of 134 with Andrew Mathieson to help Central post 385 in its first innings.
Stephen Murdoch responded with 171 to help Wellington reach 353 for five declared in its reply.
