Macclesfield had not won an away match all season but arrived at Meadow Lane knowing it was one of their lucky' grounds where they have never been beaten.
Macclesfield were also heartened by successive wins in league and cup and they started looking the more confident of the two sides with Notts still unnerved by Tuesday's home defeat to Hartlepool.
Those nerves showed badly when Notts gifted the first goal just before the half-hour mark.
A woeful clearance by Notts central defender Mike Edwards fell into the path of Colin Heath for him to sweep it passed County keeper Saul Deeney.
Worse was to follow for Deeney, who was making his first League start for Notts, having finally displaced Kevin Pilkington.
With visiting frontman John Murphy beating down on goal Deeney hauled him down and the penalty decision was an easy one for referee Mick Russell.
Kevin McIntyre drove the spot-kick inside Deeney's right-hand post and the small knot of visiting fans could probably not believe what they were seeing.
Notts offered nothing before the break, by which time they did not have a single finishing effort on target.
Notts improved in the second half and Jason Lee was twice unlucky.
A header on 53 minutes was smartly saved at the back post by Asmir Begovic and when the goalkeeper was beaten on 78 minutes James Jennings, with a desperate clearance, scooped the ball behind for a corner.
Notts had to wait until stoppage time for their consolation goal, which was made by Lee. His fine cross being headed powerfully by Dan Martin's for his fourth league goal of the season.
Just about the only thing to be said in Notts defence was that they lost key midfielder David Pipe to an ankle injury as early as the 13th minute.