Maverick Vinales headed Marc Marquez by 0.026 seconds in third MotoGP practice ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix, with Andrea Dovizioso a low-key 17th.
Overnight rain left the track in a green condition for FP3, which meant improvements on the combined timesheets were few and far between up until the closing stages of the session.
Marquez set the early pace in the third 45-minute session of the weekend with a 2:01.565s, which he improved to a 2:01.257s before dipping into the 2:00s barrier with a 2:00.813s.
The Honda rider was usurped by Yamaha's Vinales by just under two tenths, with the Phillip Island race winner marginally bettering this to a 2:00.626s with 18 minutes remaining.
Marquez and Vinales traded session-best laps again, with a 2:00.476s from the world champion beaten by a 2:00.284s from Vinales, while the sister works Yamaha of Valentino Rossi was seven tenths further back in third.
No one had improved on their laptimes from Friday on the combined times as the session reached its final eight minutes, though a session-topping 2:00.268s from Johann Zarco was just a tenth shy of his Friday best and signaled a late reshuffling as the field vied for a Q2 spot.
A 2:00.768s from Cal Crutchlow's LCR stand-in Stefan Bradl proved the first combined standings improvement, the German moving up to 13th overall while Honda stablemate Dani Pedrosa moved into ninth overall with a 2:00.361s not long after.
Pedrosa proceeded to post a weekend-best of 1:59.599s to go top overall, but was quickly beaten by Vinales and Pramac's Jack Miller with laps of 1:59.453s and 1:59.375s respectively.
Marquez made one last attempt at securing top spot with his final effort of 1:59.257s, though was displaced once more by Vinales, who fired in a 1:59.231s to end the morning fastest of all.
Miller held onto third from Pedrosa, while Zarco completed the top five on his Tech3 Yamaha. The second Pramac bike of Danilo Petrucci headed Valentino Rossi in sixth, the latter not improving on his Friday time but holding onto ninth overall.
Andrea Iannone [Suzuki] scraped into the final Q2 spot in 10th on the combined times, after a late lap of 1:59.799s moved him into eighth on the individual timesheet ahead of Alvaro Bautista [Nieto] and Franco Morbidelli [Marc VDS] – both of whom facing Q1.
Friday pacesetter Alex Rins flew under the radar in FP3 in 15th and did not improve on the combined times, but remained fifth overall by virtue of his 1:59.608s from FP2.
Ducati's Dovizioso was a similarly low-jey 17th in FP3, just two tenths ahead of teammate Michele Pirro, who replaces the injured Jorge Lorenzo for the rest of the weekend. Dovizioso will advance to Q2, however, thanks to his Friday time.
Avintia duo Xavier Simeon and Jordi Torres crashed in FP3, with the latter coming off at Turn 9 25 minutes in, while his teammate took a tumble at Turn 14 four minutes later. Pirro was the only other faller.
