Jonathan Rea clinched pole at the World Superbikes stop in Australia in thrilling fashion on Saturday.

The British Kawasaki rider's time of one minute 31.212 seconds was quick enough on a hot day at Phillip Island, where the team made some late changes before the final session.

"It was a strange way to end the session," Rea said. "From my point of view, we did a good job with a race tyre in the high temperatures and the Kawasaki is working very well.

"We made a good setup breakthrough in FP4. I am really happy with the first Tissot-Superpole of the season because it is the best possible result from qualifying.

"I also wanted the chance to use the qualifying tyre, however, because I know the Kawasaki uses the Q tyres very well too. So the lap time could have been quite good. But, this is still the best possible result for me after Superpole."

Aruba Racing's Chaz Davies (+0.026secs) and Aprilia's Leon Haslam (+0.295) were within touching distance in qualifying.

Several riders were top of Superpole Two before Rea set a time that saw him take pole for Sunday's two 22-lap races.

Davies and Nico Terol had posted the fastest times, but they crossed the line after a red flag came out for David Salom following a heavy crash.

Rounding out the top 10 in qualifying were Michael van der Mark (PATA Honda), Alex Lowes (VOLTOM Crescent Suzuki), Terol (Althea Racing), Jordi Torres (Aprilia), Tom Sykes (Kawasaki), Sylvain Guintoli (PATA Honda) and Matteo Baiocco (Althea).