8 hours too long

We land at 5pm on the 22nd and leave at 1am on the 26th. It is very difficult and expensive to get a visa because I live in a remote location. Can we plan to leave late and check back in early so that we are only out of the airport for 72 hours? I also saw in one location that the transit period starts at 12am the first full day and we would be at the airport 3 hours early for our continuing flight. Will that work?