If practice makes perfect, then Casey Stoner is in for a big 24 hours at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

Stoner continued to dominate practice on Saturday morning at Phillip Island – with another head-shakingly quick set of laps to follow on from his efforts on Friday.

Yet again the Australian was a second faster than his rivals for much of the session – and again broke the 1min 30sec mark when other riders couldn’t do so.

The Honda rider’s best lap of 1:29.665 was more than a second quicker than MotoGP championship leader Jorge Lorenzo’s Yamaha (1:30.684).

With qualifying later on Saturday, Stoner is on course for an ideal grid position for Sunday’s race as he attempts to secure his sixth successive win at Phillip Island in his home MotoGP farewell.

But Lorenzo is not panicked by Stoner’s pace.

Lorenzo leads Honda’s Dani Pedrosa by 23 points in the championship going into the penultimate race of the season.

They are the only two riders who can win the crown – and Lorenzo knows the real race for him is against his fellow Spaniard, not Stoner.

“Casey is very fast. He’s on another level at this track,” Lorenzo said.

“But I think we are close to Dani so our goal is to try and beat him.”

Stoner’s efforts come just weeks after surgery on a serious ankle injury, and record crowds are expected at Phillip Island to see him race in the MotoGP for the last time before retirement.

Australian Kris McLaren, making his MotoGP debut as a late call-up replacement rider for the Avintia team, improved markedly on his Friday practice times.

He cut several seconds off his debut efforts, but was still the slowest of the 20 riders.