Practice Three did take place, and proved eventful with crashes for both Adam Wallis in Ross Halliday's Ford Falcon EL at the Chase, and Dean Lindstrom in the second Clive Wiseman Racing Holden Commodore VS having aquaplaned on Mountain Straight.

A number of high-profile drivers were affected by traffic in the session, with Russell Ingall earning a AU$10,000 fine and a verbal quarrel with privateer cult-hero Richard Mork for his blunt summation of the situation.

After only a handful of laps were completed, Steven Ellery slid off the track at the Chase and beached his Falcon on a kerb, resulting in the first Safety Car of the day.

Newly-crowned V8 Lites champion Dean Canto was tackling his second Bathurst 1000 aboard a self-run ex-Paul Weel Racing Falcon, but his campaign was curtailed early with power steering issues.

The leaders began to lap the backmarkers and Radisich mistimed a move on Shane Howison in the minnow South Pacific Motor Racing Commodore, clipping the front-left and sustaining minor damage.

After his co-drivers' incident in the Chase earlier in the week, Ross Halliday's weekend was finished off after Forbes turned him into the inside wall at Forrest's Elbow, bringing out another Safety Car.

Perkins alleged that Greg Murphy had passed him under yellow flags, but no penalty was forthcoming and the Kiwi was held up by Steve Owen over Skyline on the restart.

Murphy brought his Gibson Motorsport Commodore in with overheating issues – hoses and buckets of water were poured over the Holden V8 in an attempt to cool it down and returned to the circuit.

Greg Crick dropped a wheel off the edge of the circuit at the exit of Hell Corner, pirouetting multiple times and getting bogged in the infield whilst trying to turn around.

The Lansvale Smash Repairs team then suffered another setback as Phillip Scifleet in the second car spun through the run-off at the Chase, caking his Commodore in mud.

The move proved well-timed as Jason Plato in the second Holden Racing Team Commodore became the latest victim of the mud at the Chase a lap later, necessitating another Safety Car.

Morris' strategy play was then bungled on the restart after the Sieders' father-and-son entry tangled with him on the run up Mountain Straight, the privateer Falcon spinning into the inside wall.

Whilst the car was far enough off the circuit to keep the race green, the respite only lasted a lap before Queenslander Ian Moncrieff ended his and Dean Canto's already troubled day by hitting the wall on the outside of Hell Corner.

Brett Peters in the Colourscan car then blew a tyre entering the Chase, and Rodney Crick hit the wall at Forrest's Elbow in the Imrie Motorsport Commodore having made side-to-side contact with Tander as the GRM driver lapped him.

Murphy now led the race from Nathan Pretty in the Holden Young Lions car, but the latter was immediately shuffled back by Radisich and stablemate Lowndes – the latter making a risky dive at Murrays Corner.

Longhurst, fighting back from his earlier spin, lunged down the inside of Glenn Seton at Hell Corner but ran wide and lost a position to the second Lansvale car.

The defending winners received no respite from their overheating issues; the Kmart Commodore was allegedly running at 120°C and their dumping of water into the engine bay was attracting the ire of race control for potentially creating a safety hazard.

The stop proved another well-timed one as Doulman's second spin at Sulman Park wasn't as fortunate as the last, heavily clouting the concrete causing the races' 10th Safety Car.

Rain returned to the top of the mountain as the 100-lap mark approached, and a cautious Yvan Muller was quickly monstered by McLean, Dugal McDougall, Tratt, John Bowe and Mezera.

Radisich and Bargwanna then stopped, handing over to their respective co-drivers – but Tander in the Valvoline Commodore was able to adapt to cold slicks on a damp track faster than Jason Bright, rounding up the CART hopeful at Reid Park.

Muller in the other HRT car cut across the Chase again whilst the Sieders family destroyed a splitter on the exit of Hell Corner; having already broken one inside the first 20 laps and with none left they were forced to complete the race with what they already had.

Steven Richards led but immediately came under attack from McLean; the DJR driver was blocked from making the move into Hell Corner but edged his way into the lead at Griffins Bend.

The Briton, unimpressed by his treatment, then cut across the track and bombed down the inside of the Falcon at Hell Corner, causing Skaife to swerve out of the way and tag Crompton into a spin.

Yvan Muller became bogged in the mud-pit at the Chase and was joined by the second Sieders car of Robert Russell and Steve Coulter, whilst Neil Schembri had aquaplaned off the top of the mountain into the sandtrap at the Esses.

Despite all his earlier dramas, Longhurst was now sitting third – but a brief fuel fire when he made his stop for wets was yet another unneeded setback for the Stone Brothers Racing crew.

Tander led Longhurst, Todd Kelly in the Young Lions entry, Murphy and Christian Murchison running a remarkable fifth on debut in the second Perkins car.

Murchison and co-driver Luke Youlden's dream run came to an abrupt halt with a broken rocker arm, yet another mechanical failure for the perennially reliable Perkins team.

Rose managed to get going again, but the already rapid pace of the Shell Falcons had improved with the change to slicks and the rest of the field took their lead – a get-out-of-jail-free scenario for Longhurst and rookie co-driver David Besnard.

Hossack and McDougall stayed out banking on track position and more rain, but their wet tyres couldn't handle the developing conditions and both made late stops – costing them significant time.