Vilander, who will share the Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 488 in the race with local Holden Supercar stars Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup, clocked a 2m02.861s lap that was two-tenths of a second faster than next-best, Chaz Mostert in a BMW M6.

Vilander’s time was some 1.2 seconds outside the lap record, the Finn pointing to the hot conditions as the main factor for the unexpectedly sluggish track pace.

“It’s not an easy format for qualifying,” he said. “You don’t really know what to expect. But the track itself is awesome; one of the best in the world.

"But I’m really happy to be with these two legends here (Lowndes and Whincup), and I think we are looking strong for tomorrow.”

Mostert had proven the surprise performer in practice and qualifying, outpacing the factory-backed BMWs in the privateer entry he’ll share with Max Twigg and Morgan Haber.

“I’ve been super stoked with the whole weekend,” Mostert said. “The track temperature went up a lot this afternoon; it was quite slippery and to do a low-three, I was pretty stoked to do that. The speed across the top is unbelievable – the faster you go, the more grip you seem to have.”

The factory-backed SRM BMW M6 of Steven Richards, Mark Winterbottom and German ace Marco Wittmann is set to start third after Wittmann clocked a best of 2m03.249s.

In his first experience at the famous Mount Panorama circuit, Wittmann described the track as ‘amazing’ and a ‘little brother of the Nordschleife’.

‘It’s very challenging,” he said, “really good fun, I had a pretty good lap, so I’m pretty happy, and it’s just a great thing to race with these two legends (Richards and Winterbottom) next to me.”

For pole winner Vilander, there were mixed emotions upon being awarded the Allan Simonsen Trophy. The Bathurst 12 Hour pole trophy is named in honour of the Simonsen, a former Bathurst 12 Hour pole winner who was killed in a crash at Le Mans in 2013.

“I had quite strong emotions when I saw the trophy,” the Finn said. “I knew Allan, I saw him for the first time in 1994. I was at the race where he had his crash; I was taking to him on the grid before the start.”