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Seeking their first championship since 1971, Surrey have turned the 1999 version into a procession.
After they had bowled Notts out for 115 - with Saqlain Mushtaq's three for 15, Ian Salisbury's three for 29 and three for 25 for Irish seamer Mark Patterson - they needed just another four points to clinch top spot for good.
Only opener Usman Afzaal (47) provided notable resistance with the bat for Notts. But Surrey found batting far from easy too, and their 199 for eight at the close meant they were most unlikely to earn a full complement of bonus points.
Seamers Vasbert Drakes (three for 53) and Mark Bowen (three for 30) did the damage for Notts, while Alec Stewart (49) top-scored for the champions elect.
Surrey's nearest pursuers Leicestershire just missed out on maximum batting points when they were bowled out seven runs short on 343 against Derbyshire at Grace Road.
But any sort of worthwhile first-innings return had looked unlikely for the hosts when they stumbled to 37 for three, with seamer Trevor Smith (five for 87) in full flow.
They batted well down the order, though, with handy runs from wicketkeeper Paul Nixon (72), Vince Wells (68) and Michael Kasprowicz (44) among others.
Yorkshire v Kent
Yorkshire and Kent's private battle for minor honours in the table was in the balance after day one at Scarborough, where Chris Silverwood's five for 65 could not prevent the visitors totalling 302 all out thanks to solid batting from Mark Ealham (59), Martin McCague (53), Min Patel (49) and Steve Marsh (46).
Matthew Wood was clean-bowled by England paceman Dean Headley in Yorkshire's reply of 10 for one at the close.
Northamptonshire v Hampshire
Hampshire were another team who had to recover from an early setback when opener Jason Laney was bowled for a duck by strugglers Northamptonshire's ex-England paceman Paul Taylor.
It proved a false dawn for the hosts at Northampton, as in-form Will Kendall (98), captain Robin Smith (94) and Giles White (43no) put Hampshire on track for a big total only for their innings to falter again to 301 all out, with England off-spin call-up Graeme Swann taking three for 74.
Lancashire v Durham
Young leg-spinner Chris Schofield - touted by former England coach David Lloyd as a Test tourist before the party for South Africa was named this week - proved his mentor's confidence is not ill-founded when he took five wickets against Durham at Old Trafford.
Lancashire needed Schofield's contribution too, as Durham shaped to post a big first-innings score and reached 193 for two at one stage thanks to half-centuries from openers Jon Lewis (61) and Jimmy Daley (66) as well as 34 from Nick Speak against his old team.
They ended up 226 all out, though, and Lancashire continued their fightback when Michael Atherton and Mark Chilton reached 26 without loss at stumps.
Sussex v Essex
On day two between Sussex and Essex at Eastbourne, the hosts emerged as the most likely winners thanks to the batting efforts of Richard Montgomerie (83) and Tony Cottey (72) to help them to 271 all out despite three wickets each for seamers Ashley Cowan and Ricky Anderson.
Pacemen Jason Lewry and James Kirtley then put Essex's second innings in immediate trouble, and only Yorkshireman Paul Grayson (42no) was making much of a fight of it as he steadied the ship to 121 for five and a fragile lead of 29 at close of play.
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