Fellow Indian Ajeetesh Sandhu (71) and Taipei's Hung Chien-yao (65) are on Bhullar's heels now at nine-under.
While the 29-year-old Bhullar is chasing an eighth win on the region's premier Tour, Sandhu is looking for a third victory in as many weeks.
Chien-yao returned with the day's best score of 65 to share second place with Sandhu.
Other Indians in the fray -- S Chikkarangappa (72) was tied-19th, Shubhankar Sharma (77) dropped to tied-24 along with Chiragh Kumar (73) and Rashid Khan (74).
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"It was quite difficult out there. (It was) not the round that I wanted but there are still 18 more holes to go. I struggled a bit today. I hit the ball pretty good but not as good as I did the last two days. Overall, I think I hung in there," said Bhullar.
The last time Bhullar held the 54-hole lead was also in Macau in 2012 and it was also by one shot and he went on to win the title. He bounced back from a wrist injury, suffered in 2014, and won the Shinhan Donghae Open and Indonesia Open in 2016.
He followed up that victory with another play-off win at the Taiheiyo Club Challenge Tournament on the Japan Challenge Tour last week.
The 25-year-old Hung is chasing for a maiden win on Asian Tour.
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