HOBART: Adam Voges scored 174 and Shaun Marsh 139 in an unbroken partnership of 317 runs to give Australia a commanding 438 for three at the close of play on the opening day of the first test against West Indies in Hobart on Thursday.

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The hosts are overwhelming favourites to win the three-match series and but for a slight wobble when they lost Steve Smith (10) and David Warner (64) before lunch, they simply dominated the tourists at Bellerive Oval.

West Indies had spoken of targeting what they perceived as a weakness in Australia's middle order but thirty something Western Australians Voges and Marsh sent them straight back to the drawing board by batting through the last two sessions.

"I've batted with Vogesy a lot of times for WA and to have that partnership today was pretty special," Marsh told ABC radio.

"I knew that if we just ground them down we could score some runs at the end of the day. Vogesy batted really well and got me going and I'm really happy that we both got hundreds."

West Indies opted for a four-pronged pace attack but it was left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican who dismissed Warner and Smith to peg the Australians back after they had scored 70 runs in the first 10 overs.

Voges put the 23-year-old Barbadian in his place by clubbing him for four boundaries in one over just after lunch, a statement of intent which presaged Australia's dominance of the rest of the day.

"We thought we were in a good position before lunch but the partnership between Voges and Marsh put us right on the back foot," Warrican said.

"We just weren't disciplined and that put us into this hole."