It was a race won on a combination of outright car speed and aggressive driving from the Kiwi, who made up all four spots on track.
His first job was to find a way through teammate Broc Feeney, which he did at the first corner complex at the start of the second lap.
Van Gisbergen then pulled the same move on Brodie Kostecki on lap 6 to move into third place.
It took just two more laps for van Gisbergen to close up on second-placed Will Davison, the Kiwi firing a warning shot into Davison's back door on lap 8.
He kept the pressure on until lap 12 when he was able to get next to Davison in the hairpin and then out-drag him down to Turn 6.
Leader Cam Waters was next, van Gisbergen pulling a similar move a handful of laps later as he fired down the inside at the hairpin.
The pair made contact on the exit, Waters showing his lack of appreciation by flipping van Gisbergen the bird and then running him to the edge of the road through Turn 5 and into Turn 6.
But Waters' frustration did little to deter van Gisbergen, who held his nerve and completed his charge to the front of the field.
The top three then pitted on consecutive laps, Davison first followed by Waters and van Gisbergen.
Davison did manage to jump Waters in the process, but van Gisbergen had the pace to cover them both as he retained the lead.
From there it was easy going for van Gisbergen who managed to gap back to Davison and recorded a 2.8s victory.
"I didn't know if I was going to be able to pass them," said van Gisbergen. "What a great race. I had to rub them up a bit but that's what we're here to do. Hopefully it was a good show for everyone.
"We did this last year and then fell back on the Sunday, so we need to be better tomorrow. I'm focussed on that."
Waters finished a lonely third followed by Kostecki and Feeney.
Anton De Pasquale made good progress from 12th on the grid to finish sixth while Scott Pye was forced to hold off a fast-finishing Andre Heimgartner right up until the flag for seventh.
Lee Holdsworth finished ninth as Todd Hazelwood rounded out the best 10.
It was a miserable finish to the day for Chaz Mostert who went into the race as the series leader.
After a poor qualifying effort, the Walkinshaw Andretti United had worked his way into the Top 10 late in the race – only to arrive at the exit of the hairpin to David Reynolds facing the wrong way after being hit by Mark Winterbottom.
After tagging a slowed up Winterbottom, Mostert had to pit to fix the damage to his Holden and was ultimately classified 23rd.
That not only cost him the points lead but dropped him to fifth in the standings, 49 points behind new leader van Gisbergen.
Tasmania Supercars - Race 1 results:
| Cla | Driver | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| 2 |  Will Davison | Ford Mustang GT | |
| 3 | Cameron Waters | Ford Mustang GT | |
| 4 | Brodie Kostecki | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| 5 | Broc Feeney | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| 6 | Anton De Pasquale | Ford Mustang GT | |
| 7 | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| 8 | Andre Heimgartner | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| 9 | Lee Holdsworth | Ford Mustang GT | |
| 10 | Todd Hazelwood | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| 11 | Tim Slade | Ford Mustang GT | |
| 12 | James Courtney | Ford Mustang GT | |
| 13 | Will Brown | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| 14 | Jake Kostecki | Ford Mustang GT | |
| 15 | Bryce Fullwood | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| 16 | Garry Jacobson | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| 17 | Jack Smith | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| 18 | Mark Winterbottom | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| 19 | Macauley Jones | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| 20 | Chris Pither | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| 21 | David Reynolds | Ford Mustang GT | |
| 22 | Thomas Randle | Ford Mustang GT | |
| 23 | Chaz Mostert | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| 24 | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore ZB | |
| Jack Le Brocq | Holden Commodore ZB | ||
| View full results | |||
