Marc Marquez led Maverick Vinales by 0.042 seconds in the third MotoGP practice for the Australian Grand Prix despite a second crash of the weekend for the new five-time world champion.
Marquez [Honda] brushed off a small off at Turn 4 to take over from Yamaha's Vinales late on with a 1:29.714s, while Suzuki's Andrea Iannone remained fastest on the combined times by virtue of his FP2 lap of 1:29.131s.
World champion Marquez set the early pace in a cool FP3 at Phillip Island with a 1:30.110s, putting the Honda rider half a second clear of Iannone.
Marquez's charge in the session was halted briefly by a crash at the Honda hairpin on an out-lap just over halfway through the session, while Iannone added insult to injury by usurping him at the top o the timesheets with a 1:29.867s.
With 20 minutes remaining, only Marc VDS' Tom Luthi and Nieto stand-in Mike Jones had improved their times on the combined times in 20th and 23rd, respectively, and it would not be for a further 15 minutes before any significant moves were made in the battle to secure a Q2 place.
Vinales demoted Iannone from the top of the standings on the individual times with a 1:29.756s with 10 minutes on the clock, while Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi moved up to third two tenths adrift.
Marquez got to within 0.075s of Vinales with four minutes to go, before home favourite Jack Miller edged ahead by a few hundredths.
A 1:29.714s next time around for Marquez put him top in FP3 and saw him improve on the combined standings, albeit remaining sixth ahead of Miller.
Marquez's effort remained unchallenged as the chequered flag brought the session to a close, with Vinales 0.042s adrift in second ahead of Miller, Iannone and Rossi.
Pol Espargaro was an impressive sixth on his KTM, but was unable to improve on 11th on the combined times and will face Q1 having missed a direct progression place by just 0.042s.
Dani Pedrosa, who was announced on Friday as a KTM test rider for 2019, was seventh in FP3, but remained 12th on the overall times and will join Espargaro in Q1, while eighth-placed Johann Zarco held fifth overall.
Alvaro Bautista enjoyed a trouble-free morning on the works Ducati in ninth, though will go into Q1 after finishing the combined standings 14th overall, while teammate Andrea Dovizioso completed the top 10 in FP3 and secured his Q2 place on Friday with fourth on the combined order.
13th-placed Alex Rins [Suzuki], 17th-placed Danilo Petrucci [Pramac] and 19th-placed Hafizh Syahrin were the final direct Q2 graduates thanks to their Friday times.
Syahrin's session ended prematurely, however, when he crashed at the fast Doohan corner and had to be taken to the medical centre for checks.
