Williams face a race against time to get Lance Stroll's car ready for qualifying following his crash towards the end of final practice. 

He needs a gearbox change, which means he will make his Grand Prix debut with a five-place grid penalty.

Peter Wanyonyi:  Hard to see Ferrari keeping that pace up, Lewis seems to have pocketfuls of pace to unleash.  

When our man Andrew Benson uses the word tasty, you know something exciting is potentially brewing. 

There are plenty of clouds hovering over Melbourne and there is the possibility of a bit of rain for qualifying.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Melbourne

Final practice was far from a definitive read on performance as a crash for Williams driver Lance Stroll ended the session 10 minutes early.

The Canadian rookie lost control at Turn Nine, badly damaging the car and bringing out the red flag.

It meant Mercedes, who were comfortably quicker than Ferrari in Friday practice, did not have time to go out and do a final pre-qualifying simulation run.

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes expressed surprise at their advantage over Ferrari on the first day of running of the new season, having been convinced by their rival's pace in testing that they faced a major challenge in 2017.

Instead, Hamilton was quickest by half a second and was a second clear of the Ferraris on average on his race simulation run.

Image source, Reuters

Hello! 

Here we are then, the first qualifying session of 2017 and there is a real buzz in the Albert Park paddock after a scintillating lap by Sebastian Vettel.

He broke the lap record he set back in 2011 with a 1:23.380 in final practice a couple of hours ago to finish almost half a second quicker than the Mercedes.

It sets things up for a tasty hour of qualifying, which gets under way at 06:00 GMT.

Image source, AFP

Image source, Getty Images

The man the fans wants to meet and his rivals want to beat.

Lewis Hamilton laid down a marker for the season ahead by dominating practice on Friday but, just as we were contemplating another Ferrari false dawn, Sebastian Vettel raised an eyebrow or two by finishing fastest in final practice.

So is there a genuine threat from Ferrari? Things should become a little clearer in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Melbourne

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel headed the Mercedes in final practice at the Australian Grand Prix.

The four-time champion was 0.479 seconds clear of Valtteri Bottas as Ferrari finally appeared to show the pace that had impressed pre-season.

Lewis Hamilton was third, 0.011secs behind his team-mate.

It was far from a definitive read on performance, however, as a crash for Williams driver Lance Stroll ended the session 10 minutes early.

The Canadian rookie lost control at Turn Nine, badly damaging the car and bringing out the red flag.

A hint of the pace Ferrari threatened to have during testing certainly makes qualifying a more intriguing prospect later on. Could Mercedes have a fight on their hands? Join me again in 45 minutes for build up to qualifying. I'll leave you with Andrew Benson's summary of how final practice unfolded.

Image source, F1.com

I wonder if Lewis Hamilton is a little irked that the red flagged fluffed his chances of beating Valtteri Bottas for the third time in practice?

Natasha Lee Taylor: The first #qualifying, external of the #f1, external season hasn't even happened yet but #bbcf1, external have already made a Raikkonen ice cream joke. Worth getting up!  

Oh this is the absolute highlight of final practice! Nicole Kidman is getting introduced to Kimi Raikkonen. 

Kidman has a look that suggests she has little idea who he is. Kimi is his usual stoney-faced self, but that's probably how he would react meeting anyone. 

Unless they had ice cream with them.

11) Massa 12) Verstappen 13) Perez 14) Alonso 15) Vandoorne 16) Ocon 17) Stroll 18) Ericsson 19) Palmer 20) Giovinazzi

1) Vettel 2) Bottas 3) Hamilton 4) Raikkonen 5) Hulkenberg 6) Ricciardo 7) Grosjean 8) Sainz 9) Kvyat 10) Magnussen

Actress Nicole Kidman is in town. She is currently being shown around the Ferrari garage as that Williams is recovered.

The abandoned Williams is lifted onto the recovery truck. Will there be time for any more action? Four minutes and counting...

Lance Stroll is OK as he climbs out of his car. A big blow for Williams with just over two hours until qualifying. Will they patch it up in time?

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Melbourne

Williams are very short of spares. That could be a major problem for them.