A rejuvenated Casey Stoner clinched pole position for his home Australian Grand Prix after emerging on top of a see-saw tussle with world champion Valentino Rossi in qualifying yesterday.

Stoner, who missed three races with a mystery illness before returning at this month's Portuguese Grand Prix, edged out Rossi with a time of 1.30.341 seconds on a greasy 4.45km Phillip Island circuit.

After slamming slick patches on the track following Friday's practice, Stoner was more approving of conditions a day later, despite morning showers, but said his team still needed to tinker with his Ducati.

"The track was in pretty good condition in the wet this morning and it slowly got better and better as the weekend went on," the 24-year-old, who is chasing his third consecutive home Grand Prix, told Australian television.

"We've improved the turning in the long corners, we've definitely got a lot more corner speed but we've lost the rear grip coming out of the corners. The general bike's been perfect and you know, we'll just see what we can do."

Rossi, who holds an 18-point lead over Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo in the championship standings, went faster than Stoner towards the end of the session, only to have pole snatched from him with little more than two minutes left.

The Italian's time of 1:30.391 on his Yamaha edged him closer to a seventh premier class title and his championship hopes were further bolstered when Spaniard Dani Pedrosa recovered from a crash to pip Lorenzo to the front-row by 0.001 seconds.

"Under the championship point of view, it's okay because I'm faster than Jorge, we have a good advantage," Rossi said.

"So I hope tomorrow (today) it's possible to fight for the victory together with me and Casey."