The Erebus driver spent much of the session sitting in third spot behind early pacesetters David Reynolds and Cam Waters.
He was then one of only a handful of drivers to run greens right at the end of the session, stopping the clock at 1m18.720s to top the session.
"The Boost Mobile Commodore was feeling fantastic," said Brown. "I rolled out for the first [run] and probably didn't put the best lap together, and [engineer] Tom [Moore] said we were third. So I was really happy with the overall set-up of the car.
"We had a great test day here only a week ago, so probably a bit of an advantage. But to end up P1 after a couple of tough rounds, it's great. Hopefully we can roll that through the weekend."
Reynolds finished second thanks to a 1m18.831s that he set early in the session. The Grove Racing driver is being touted as one of the favourites for the weekend based on his speed during the Winton test day last week.
Waters was third fastest and the only other driver to get under the 1m19s mark followed by Team 18 pair Mark Winterbottom and Scott Pye.
Brodie Kostecki capped off a good session for Erebus with the sixth fastest time, while Chaz Mostert was a promising seventh off the back of Walkinshaw Andretti United's nightmare in Perth last time out.
Macauley Jones led the way for Brad Jones Racing in eighth ahead of teammate Andre Heimgartner, while Lee Holdsworth rounded out the Top 10.
Triple Eight and Dick Johnson Racing both focussed on race runs rather than qualifying sims, points leader Shane van Gisbergen just 13th fastest on old tyres.
His T8 teammate Broc Feeney was just 23rd fastest while DJR pair Anton De Pasquale and Will Davison were 20th and 25th.
The two wildcards in the field, Jordan Boys and Jayden Ojeda, were an impressive 17th and 18th respectively.
| Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 |
 Will Brown | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'18.720 | ||
| 2 | 26 |
David Reynolds | Ford Mustang GT | 1'18.831 | 0.111 | 0.111 |
| 3 | 6 |
Cameron Waters | Ford Mustang GT | 1'18.947 | 0.226 | 0.115 |
| 4 | 18 |
Mark Winterbottom | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.101 | 0.381 | 0.154 |
| 5 | 20 |
Scott Pye | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.166 | 0.445 | 0.064 |
| 6 | 99 | Brodie Kostecki | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.209 | 0.488 | 0.042 |
| 7 | 25 |
Chaz Mostert | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.251 | 0.530 | 0.042 |
| 8 | 96 |
Macauley Jones | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.331 | 0.610 | 0.080 |
| 9 | 8 |
 Andre Heimgartner | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.343 | 0.623 | 0.012 |
| 10 | 10 |
Lee Holdsworth | Ford Mustang GT | 1'19.357 | 0.636 | 0.013 |
| 11 | 5 |
James Courtney | Ford Mustang GT | 1'19.422 | 0.702 | 0.065 |
| 12 | 14 |
Bryce Fullwood | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.457 | 0.736 | 0.034 |
| 13 | 97 |
Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.480 | 0.759 | 0.023 |
| 14 | 2 |
Nick Percat | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.484 | 0.763 | 0.004 |
| 15 | 55 |
Thomas Randle | Ford Mustang GT | 1'19.496 | 0.776 | 0.012 |
| 16 | 56 |
Jake Kostecki | Ford Mustang GT | 1'19.512 | 0.791 | 0.015 |
| 17 | 49 | Jordan Boys | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.518 | 0.797 | 0.005 |
| 18 | 27 | Jayden Ojeda | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.528 | 0.807 | 0.010 |
| 19 | 3 |
Tim Slade | Ford Mustang GT | 1'19.560 | 0.839 | 0.032 |
| 20 | 11 |
Anton De Pasquale | Ford Mustang GT | 1'19.561 | 0.840 | 0.001 |
| 21 | 4 |
Jack Smith | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.700 | 0.980 | 0.139 |
| 22 | 34 |
Jack Le Brocq | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.737 | 1.017 | 0.037 |
| 23 | 88 | Broc Feeney | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.842 | 1.122 | 0.104 |
| 24 | 35 |
Todd Hazelwood | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'19.870 | 1.150 | 0.028 |
| 25 | 17 |
Will Davison | Ford Mustang GT | 1'19.917 | 1.197 | 0.047 |
| 26 | 76 |
Garry Jacobson | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'20.178 | 1.457 | 0.260 |
| 27 | 22 |
Chris Pither | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'20.346 | 1.625 | 0.168 |
| View full results | ||||||
