Semiclassical transport simulation of nucleus-nucleus collisions for the range of incident energy from about the Fermi energy up to a few hundred MeV per nucleon evidences that the maximal excitation energy put into a nuclear system during the early compact stage of heavy-ion reaction is a constant fraction of the center-of-mass available energy of the system. Analysis of experimental data without presuming reaction mechanism dominating the collision process on the best corroborate the found constancy of energy partition in central heavy-ion reactions.