The first part of the session saw the South African and reigning Bathurst 12 Hour winner Jules Gounon (#75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes) trading fastest times.
Gounon's 2m05.110s had just taken over from van der Linde's early 2m05.649s when the session was red flagged due to debris at The Chase.
After a quick clean up the session went green again, van der Linde swiftly going fastest before Gounon again responded as the benchmark dropped to 2m04.406s.
Van der Linde had one more trick up his sleeve, though, diving into the threes with a 2m03.956s before handing the car over to Nathanael Berthon.
There was no running that time down, the #74 entry remaining on top until the end of the session.
The closest anybody got was Chaz Mostert, who charged around Mount Panorama in 2m04.295s during his first run in the #65 MPC Audi all day.
Maro Engel (#91 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes) improved on his very last lap to jump the #75 Mercedes for third spot.
The #75 ended up fourth thanks to Gounon's early time followed by Markus Winkelhock in the #777 MPC Audi.
David Reynolds set the eighth fastest time in the #24 MPC Audi ahead of Ben Barker in the sole Porsche in the field, the #4 Grove Racing entry.
Joey Mawson was eighth fastest in the #17 Team BRM Audi while Broc Feeney was a late starter to the session due to some ongoing repairs to damage sustained by Prince Jefri Ibrahim in Practice 3.
Interestingly Feeney was the only driver to drive the #888 Triple Eight Mercedes in the evening session which, according to the rules, means he will have to be in the car for the start on Sunday morning.
Practice continues tomorrow with an hour-long session starting at 8:05am.
You can watch all of the Bathurst 12 Hour action live and free on Motorsport.tv (not available to viewers in Australia and New Zealand).
