Esther Qin will fly the Australian flag in the final of the women's 3m springboard but Tokyo teammate Anabelle Smith narrowly missed the 12-diver field.
China's Shi Tingmao will start Sunday's final as runaway favourite, with an overall tally of 371.45 from her five dives - 24.6 points clear of her teammate Wang Han.
Two-time Olympian Qin, who finished sixth in Rio five years ago, qualified in eighth spot after opening with a sparkling inward dive that saw the 29-year-old in second place after round one.
She fell to 11th after the second round but continued to climb back up the leaderboard with her final three dives to score a combined 309.15
Smith was sitting ninth after the third round but dropped below the cut on her fourth dive and was unable to claw her way back.
