Schumacher's stunning 1m25.127s time was set on the third of only four laps completed in the hour session, while Barrichello was 0.234s further back with a quick lap late in the session. The Brazilian may have gone even quicker but got caught behind Jenson Button in the mid-section on a fast lap and set quickest sector times on the following in-lap.

Everyone else was at least two seconds behind the red cars until Renault driver Jarno Trulli took to the Albert Park circuit with 23 minutes left and put together a lap that put him within 1.9s of Schumacher.

Jordan new boy Giorgio Pantano had the honour of being the first man to take to the circuit in anger in '04 and, for the first 20 minutes, the session belonged largely to the rookies and the testers, BAR driver Anthony Davidson and Toyota's Ricardo Zonta trading times at the top of the timesheets in the early stages. The Briton would end up best of the testers with a solid ninth on the timesheets.

Renault's Fernando Alonso was the first of the major players to come out to play, and quickly upped the ante, setting a lap of 1m28.862s on his fifth tour. That time put him briefly top of the timesheets but he was swiftly eclipsed by Schumacher's searing lap. Team-mate Trulli's late effort also pipped the Spaniard's time.

McLaren played it cool and waited until the end of the session before venturing on track. Briton David Coulthard went first and, after a brief return to the pits, climbed to 12th and then fourth just before the chequered flag. Kimi Raikkonen left it even later to exit the pits and a mere five laps placed him 12th.

The Williams duo made a solid start to the season with sixth and seventh fastest times despite a major grassy moment for Ralf Schumacher and a couple of hairy overtaking moves on slower cars. Most of Montoya's best laps were also hampered by traffic.

Like McLaren, BAR left it late to show but, once it did, the team's pre-season testing form appeared to have been an honest indication of pace. Jenson Button shot straight into the top 10 with the eighth fastest time. Japanese team-mate Takuma Sato was 13th.

Hometown hero Mark Webber was another late starter for Jaguar. He rounded out the top 10 with a lap of 1m28.089s while new team-mate Christian Klien used the session to continue acclimatising to the rigours of a grand prix weekend. The Austrian only completed seven laps and ended the session 19th fastest. Tester Bjorn Wirdheim did 24 laps and was 0.014s quicker than Klein.

Toyota, Jordan, Sauber and Minardi all made inauspicious starts to 2004. Toyota's Cristiano da Matta finished 14th despite a spin mid-session at the penultimate corner. Olivier Panis wasn't far behind in 16th, 0.265s adrift.

Jordan's Pantano might have been the first on-track and completed 18 laps in total, but he too was struggled early on, running off track on his way to 20th. His more experienced team-mate Nick Heidfeld fared a little better, but after 11 laps, was still 4.699s behind Michael Schumacher.

Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella looked quick, especially in the middle sector of the lap, but ended up 15th. Team-mate Felipe Massa failed to set a time after his machine stopped on the circuit with technical difficulties after just one lap.