Jason Scrivener is looking for the positives after another near miss at the Australian PGA Championship ensured his quest to end a five-year title drought continues.

The West Australian led after two rounds but looked gone when he trailed Cameron Smith by seven shots with two holes to play in Saturday's third round.

He birdied both of those to salvage a round of 74 then started hot on Sunday, climbing into a three-way tie for the lead when Smith bogeyed the 11th hole.

Smith responded with two birdies but European Tour member Scrivener, whose only title came at the NSW Open in 2017, birdied again to stay just a shot back.

He missed a birdie putt on 16 and watched in horror as his putt on the party hole 17th rolled away from the hole and into a bunker.

A double bogey there squashed hopes of a stunning win over the world No.3, although a birdie on the final hole meant he shared second with Japan's Ryo Hisatsune.

"It's a tough one to take," he said.

"I felt like I had some good momentum, just the putt on 16 was my chance to apply a bit of pressure.

"Yesterday was pretty tough, a tough pill to swallow and to be in that position and just keep making birdies was nice. So I'll take that into next week."

Earlier, veterans Geoff Ogilvy and Greg Chalmers also found their Sunday best, carding rounds of 65 and 66 to finish five and seven under respectively.

Adam Scott was three under on Sunday to finish four-under par, while Marc Leishman found form ahead of a return to Victoria's sandbelt for the Australian Open from Thursday.

He carded a four-under 67 to sign off at six under for the tournament.