Second place starter Brown beat teammate pole-sitting Triple Eight teammate Broc Feeney to the first corner and controlled two Safety Car restarts to take the win.

Feeney scored second while Percat, struggling with a power steering problem, fought off DJR duo Brodie Kostecki and Will Davison to round out the podium.

It was a thrilling finish to another action-packed Supercars race peppered with action throughout the field and ultimately running to its time cut-off after 15 or 19 laps.

“It was a really fast pace there and with the Safety Cars, everyone was going flat out,” said Brown, who also captured the championship lead.

“It was hot out there, we weren’t sure what the tyres were going to do, but ended up bringing it home in first.”

The opening lap featured three major incidents, the last of which triggered the deployment of the Safety Car.

Third place starter Matt Payne was the first victim, spun at Turn 1 after contact from Cooper Murray, who had in turn received contact from Davison.

David Reynolds was the next to be facing the wrong direction, his Camaro rotating at Turn 4 after side-on contact with Bryce Fullwood.

In the middle of that scrap was Thomas Randle, who suffered a flat tyre from contact with Aaron Cameron.

Unluckiest of all was James Golding, who was punted into the Turn 11 gravel trap by Chaz Mostert.

The WAU ace had braked too late while attempting to pass Murray, locked his inside front wheel and slammed into the PremiAir Camaro.

Racing resumed once Golding was recovered from the gravel and the man on the move was Percat, who took second from Feeney and began to pressure Brown.

Kostecki was also showing speed, overtaking Davison for fourth place and the honour of lead Mustang.

Racing was again interrupted on lap six when Murray speared off at Turn 11 and head-butted the tyre barrier.

Feeney fought back on Percat at the second restart, sliding down the inside of the MSR Camaro into Turn 1.

Percat fell back from the Triple Eight duo in the remaining laps and then came under huge pressure from the DJR Mustangs on the final lap.

Struggling with what appeared a power steering issue, Percat was overtaken by Kostecki into Turn 11, only for Percat to take the place back at the next corner.

Percat and Kostecki ran side-by-side through the final turn, the former hanging onto the podium spot and the latter losing out to Davison at the line.

WAU duo Ryan Wood and Mostert ended up sixth and seventh, albeit the later with an asterisk next to his name following the early contact with Golding.

Anton De Pasquale, Cam Waters and Cam Hill completed the top 10; Waters having charged through from 19th on the grid.

Another charger was Payne, who had spun to last at Turn 1 before driving back through to 11th.

A fourth and final Supercars race will complete the Melbourne SuperSprint at Albert Park on Sunday.

Results: Albert Park, Race 6