Casey Stoner storms to pole position for Australian Grand Prix

The championship leader did not show his hand during the first half of the session, and, after running on at the Honda corner, looked as though he may have to settle for fourth spot when Marco Simoncelli knocked him off the front row with 17 minutes to go.

But that was merely the home hero's cue to unleash his raw pace; the Honda rider doing so by going fastest in 1m30.042s and then improving twice more to finish the session with a pole time of 1m29.975.

Jorge Lorenzo, the only man who can deny Stoner this year's championship, will start alongside him. The Yamaha rider led the field at the halfway point of the session, but had to dig deep to hang on to second - 0.473s slower than Stoner.

Alvaro Bautista delivered a stunning lap to go third with just four minutes left, and although he lost the position to Simoncelli's Gresini Honda, the Suzuki rider still managed a career-best fourth spot on the grid.

Honda's Andrea Dovizioso (Honda), who gave Bautista a helpful two on the Spaniard's hot lap, Ducati's Nicky Hayden and Yamaha's Ben Spies were next up; the latter American crashing heavily at Turn 3 early on, but rejoining later on his spare bike.

Dani Pedrosa (Honda), Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Loris Capirossi (Pramac Ducati) completed the top 10 while Valentino Rossi was a dismal 13th on his works Ducati.

Karel Abraham crashed his Cardion AB Ducati in the final minute while Damian Cudlin completed just one slow lap on his Aspar Ducati, following his heavy practice crash, and is uncertain to start Sunday's race.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike       Time       Gap
 1.  Casey Stoner      Honda           1m29.975s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha          1m30.448s  + 0.473s
 3.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda   1m30.599s  + 0.624s
 4.  Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki          1m30.714s  + 0.739s
 5.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda           1m30.780s  + 0.805s
 6.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati          1m30.792s  + 0.817s
 7.  Ben Spies         Yamaha          1m30.835s  + 0.860s
 8.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda           1m30.871s  + 0.896s
 9.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha   1m31.237s  + 1.262s
10.  Loris Capirossi   Pramac Ducati   1m31.583s  + 1.608s
11.  Randy de Puniet   Pramac Ducati   1m31.635s  + 1.660s
12.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Gresini Honda   1m31.889s  + 1.914s
13.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati          1m31.980s  + 2.005s
14.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha   1m32.023s  + 2.048s
15.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati  1m32.054s  + 2.079s
16.  Toni Elias        LCR Honda       1m32.503s  + 2.528s
17.  Damian Cudlin     Aspar Ducati    1m36.666s  + 6.691s