Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg topped final practice ahead at the Australian Grand Prix, but Ferrari continued to show signs it has closed the gap at the front.
The Mercedes were split 0.176s, with Sebastian Vettel 0.228s off Hamilton's fastest time. The fastest sectors were split three ways, with Hamilton fastest in sector one, Vettel quickest in sector two and Rosberg the fastest man through sector three. All three drivers set their quickest times on the super-soft tyres in the first completely dry session of the weekend.
It was a different story on the soft tyres, with Mercedes holding a comfortable margin, but fuel loads may have accounted for some of the time discrepancies either way. Carlos Sainz was fourth fastest in the Toro Rosso, which has been tipped to be the surprise package at the opening rounds of the season. Sainz was 0.633s off Hamilton's ultimate pace and 0.178s quicker than Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari.
Max Verstappen was sixth fastest for Toro Rosso ahead of Williams' Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo. Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez rounded out the top ten, over 1.5s off the pace of Hamilton.
McLaren driver's Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button slotted in 11th and 12th, which is likely to be a fair representation of the team's progress over the winter. However, Daniil Kvyat and Nico Hulkenberg will expect to be further up the order come qualifying.
Sauber, Renault and Haas are likely to be in a scrap for a place in Q2, while Manor finished the session nearly a second off the pace of the midfield at the rear. Rio Haryanto got his first FP3 session off to a bad start when he exited the pits into the path of Romain Grosjean, pinning the Haas against the pit wall. However, both cars were recovered to their garages and made it out on track later in the session.
Several drivers made small mistakes during the session, underlining the lack of grip on the circuit after yesterday's rain. Alonso was among the drivers who ran wide at the penultimate corner, spinning through 360 degrees on the grass. Rosberg and Kevin Magnussen ran wide together at Turn 13 midway through the session but managed to avoid contact.
However, such mistakes in qualifying could be costly, with the new live knock-out system set to debut at Albert Park this afternoon.