Scott McLaughlin topped the final practice session ahead of the opening race of the Adelaide 500, pipping Shane van Gisbergen in the closing moments.
The DJR Team Penske driver recorded a 1:19.8117s lap as van Gisbergen fell to fourth after late efforts saw Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison improve after the chequered flag.
As the session opened, McLaughlin put his DJR Team Penske Falcon fastest, immediately improving on that effort in an early qualifying simulation.
He book-ended the session with another simulation ahead of the Top 10 Shootout for today's race, improving on his earlier best by 0.7s.
“The car feels a lot more comfortable underneath me and we tried a few things before qualifying yesterday but weren't game enough to put them on for qualifying,” said McLaughlin.
“We just wanted to get in the shootout. Tuned her up over night and yeah, she's a jet.”
A long night at Red Bull saw Whincup out on track despite his heavy Friday shunt, the seven-time champ wasting no time in getting up to speed.
“The car was very, very second hand as you saw yesterday and she's good today,” Whincup said.
“I would've loved to have gone easy through Turn 8, but I'm like ‘no you gotta get back on the horse' so, lap one, hooked in nice and hard like I normally would.
“I just pride myself on not letting anything like that slow you down, you just got to keep pushing forward.”
Tickford Racing pulled a rabbit out of a hat to get Cam Waters back on track for qualifying yesterday, though his car carried battle scars after he too found the wall at Turn 8 on Friday.
With the final repairs completed last night, Waters banked a 1:20.4859s as he ended the session just outside the top ten.
Team-mate Mark Winterbottom languished down the order until late in the session, when he recorded a 1:19.9182s to jump from 19th to second.
His time pushed Will Davison down to third, the Milwaukee Racing Falcon continuing the strong pace it displayed throughout Friday's running.
Fifth fastest was David Reynolds for Erebus, then Whincup, the BJR duo of Tim Slade and Nick Percat, with Craig Lowndes and Rick Kelly rounding out the ten.
Fabian Coulthard could manage no better than 14th, one place behind lead rookie Richie Stanaway, while Chaz Mostert was 16th and Garth Tander, who didn't opt for a new tyre run late in the session, was 17th.
The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship is next on track for the Top 10 Shootout at 1155 local time (1225 AEDT).
Results: Practice 3
Pos | Num | Team/Sponsor | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Split |
1 | 17 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:19.8117 | |
2 | 5 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:19.9182 | 0:00.1065 |
3 | 230 | Milwaukee Racing | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:20.0213 | 0:00.2096 |
4 | 97 | Red Bull Holden Racing Team | Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:20.0543 | 0:00.2426 |
5 | 9 | Erebus Penrite Racing | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:20.1584 | 0:00.3467 |
6 | 1 | Red Bull Holden Racing Team | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:20.2647 | 0:00.4530 |
7 | 14 | Freightliner Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:20.3001 | 0:00.4884 |
8 | 8 | Blackwoods Racing | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:20.3154 | 0:00.5037 |
9 | 888 | Autobarn Lowndes Racing | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:20.3975 | 0:00.5858 |
10 | 15 | Nissan Motorsport | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:20.4160 | 0:00.6043 |
11 | 6 | Monster Energy Racing | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:20.4577 | 0:00.6460 |
12 | 23 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 1:20.5180 | 0:00.7063 |
13 | 56 | Tickford Racing | Richie Stanaway | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:20.5252 | 0:00.7135 |
14 | 12 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:20.5551 | 0:00.7434 |
15 | 99 | Erebus Racing | Anton De Pasquale | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:20.5750 | 0:00.7633 |
16 | 55 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:20.7594 | 0:00.9477 |
17 | 33 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:20.7626 | 0:00.9509 |
18 | 7 | Nissan Motorsport | Andre Heimgartner | Nissan Altima | 1:20.9570 | 0:01.1453 |
19 | 34 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | James Golding | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:20.9742 | 0:01.1625 |
20 | 78 | Team Harvey Norman | Simona de Silvestro | Nissan Altima | 1:21.1066 | 0:01.2949 |
21 | 2 | Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:21.1438 | 0:01.3321 |
22 | 25 | Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing | James Courtney | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:21.1469 | 0:01.3352 |
23 | 35 | Bigmate Racing | Todd Hazelwood | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:21.3075 | 0:01.4958 |
24 | 18 | Preston Hire Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:21.3225 | 0:01.5108 |
25 | 19 | Tekno Autosports | Jack Le Brocq | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:21.3901 | 0:01.5784 |
26 | 21 | CoolDrive Racing | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:21.9428 | 0:02.1311 |