It was van Gisbergen that led the way for the majority of the session after going quickest on his first run with a 1m11.593s on his first run.
He then lowered the benchmark to a 1m11.402s and then a 1m11.240s all inside the first third of the session.
The Kiwi did look to improve as the session wore on, one particular purple sector lap ruined by a kerb strike.
He then fell hundredths of a second short of improving with a minute to go.
That left him exposed to a late charge from Davison, who jumped to second late in the session before leapfrogging van Gisbergen with a 1m11.221s right at the flag.
Cam Waters, the last driver that can mathematically beat van Gisbergen to the title, was third fastest followed by Chaz Mostert.
Mark Winterbottom was fifth fastest while David Reynolds, Nick Percat and Anton De Pasquale were all within half a second of the pace.
Andre Heimgartner and Jack Le Brocq were ninth and 10th fastest.
Practice continues with a second half-hour session starting at 3:15pm local time.
Gold Coast 500 Practice 1 results
| Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 |  Will Davison |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'11.2213 | ||
| 2 | 97 |  Shane van Gisbergen |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'11.2401 | 0.0188 | 0.0188 |
| 3 | 6 | Cameron Waters |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'11.4790 | 0.2577 | 0.2389 |
| 4 | 25 | Chaz Mostert |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'11.5147 | 0.2934 | 0.0357 |
| 5 | 18 | Mark Winterbottom |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'11.5274 | 0.3061 | 0.0127 |
| 6 | 26 | David Reynolds |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'11.5838 | 0.3625 | 0.0564 |
| 7 | 2 | Nick Percat |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'11.6086 | 0.3873 | 0.0248 |
| 8 | 11 | Anton De Pasquale |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'11.6554 | 0.4341 | 0.0468 |
| 9 | 8 | Andre Heimgartner |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'11.7520 | 0.5307 | 0.0966 |
| 10 | 34 | Jack Le Brocq |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'11.7654 | 0.5441 | 0.0134 |
| 11 | 31 | James Golding |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'11.8151 | 0.5938 | 0.0497 |
| 12 | 10 | Lee Holdsworth |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'11.8201 | 0.5988 | 0.0050 |
| 13 | 35 | Todd Hazelwood |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'11.8402 | 0.6189 | 0.0201 |
| 14 | 99 | Brodie Kostecki | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'11.8407 | 0.6194 | 0.0005 |
| 15 | 3 | Tim Slade |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'11.8460 | 0.6247 | 0.0053 |
| 16 | 22 | Chris Pither |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'11.8490 | 0.6277 | 0.0030 |
| 17 | 5 | James Courtney |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'11.9084 | 0.6871 | 0.0594 |
| 18 | 55 | Thomas Randle |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'11.9255 | 0.7042 | 0.0171 |
| 19 | 9 | Will Brown |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'12.0345 | 0.8132 | 0.1090 |
| 20 | 20 | Scott Pye |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'12.0408 | 0.8195 | 0.0063 |
| 21 | 88 | Broc Feeney | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'12.4460 | 1.2247 | 0.4052 |
| 22 | 4 | Jack Smith |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'12.7440 | 1.5227 | 0.2980 |
| 23 | 96 | Macauley Jones |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'12.7898 | 1.5685 | 0.0458 |
| 24 | 56 | Jake Kostecki |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'12.7927 | 1.5714 | 0.0029 |
| 25 | 14 | Bryce Fullwood |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'12.9904 | 1.7691 | 0.1977 |
| View full results | ||||||
