Bathurst 1000, 2020: Cam Waters tops Thursday's first and third practice sessions

Waters, coming into the event on the back of his first win of the season at The Bend Supersprint, kept Tickford Racing's great form rolling into Bathurst.

After topping the time sheets during Thursday's opening session with a two minute and 5.02 lap time Waters then bettered that mark in the last session in a 2:04.1696 lap late into the hour-long window.

Champion-elect Scott McLaughlin was next fastest in 2:04.4633 and Shane van Gisbergen went third quickest in 2:04.4938.

Waters' co-driver Will Davison also had a solid day behind the wheel with a 2:06.1832 in his session, fast enough for fourth place.

Nothing was left in Waters' tank - literally - in his bid to put in a speedy time for the third session, running out of petrol after he completed his final lap.

"The car was really good and Will fitted in well. The only hiccup was running out of fuel," he said.

"I was debating with my engineer to let me finish that last flying lap. He let me finish it and I thought I'd have enough to get back but obviously not.

"We'll just work on the race car tomorrow. There's a question mark about weather but we can't control that so we'll just focus on what we're doing now and get a bit more comfy with the car."

The Tickford garage have been striking excellent form over the past few rounds leading into the finale at Bathurst.

Waters currently sits in third spot in the championship and can still jump ahead of Whincup for second place should results go his way on Sunday.

He's missed the top five only twice in his past 12 races and has stood on the podium six times.

"I try and fly under the radar as much as I can," Waters said.

"Through the year we've tried to find a little bit of pace to catch that 17 [of McLaughlin] and even Triple Eight. I feel like we've slowly been getting there and making improvements.

"It's been awesome to roll out this weekend and be fast again. I think traditionally Tickford go quite well at Bathurst anyway, but for me this year has been about consistency.

"While I try to fly under the radar I don't know whether it's worked or not."

It took some time for drivers to even get themselves into the 2:05s during a measured start to Thursday's last practice session.

Jamie Whincup got to that mark first with a 2:05.7202 just before the halfway point of the session.

The first venture in the 2:04s came from Waters with exactly 10 minutes remaining as he clocked a 2:04.8029 - bettering his mark from earlier in the day.

McLaughlin held the fastest lap for literally a fraction of a second before Waters crossed the line right behind him to take back top spot.

The good times for Tickford Racing continued when James Moffat topped the co-drivers' practice session with a time of 2:06.0584.

Friday's Supercars action at Mount Panorama starts from 9.45am with another one hour co-drivers practice session

Qualifying gets underway from 4.05pm.