The one-hour running was suspended for 10 minutes, with McLaren’s Norris topping the time charts.
The British driver finished just 0.018 seconds clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with George Russell third for Mercedes and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fourth. The top four were separated by less than half-a-tenth.
Russell hauled his Mercedes towards the front of the order in the closing moments, but team-mate Lewis Hamilton struggled with the handling of his Silver Arrows.
The seven-time world champion ran off the road at the opening bend on his first lap on the speediest soft tyres and ended the session only ninth. He has endured a difficult start to the season, both qualifying and finishing lower than his team-mate in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Carlos Sainz, back in his Ferrari after missing the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with appendicitis, was eighth.
Williams later confirmed that Albon would be unable to take part in the second practice session at Albert Park.
“Further to Alex’s accident in FP1, we can confirm that he will not participate in FP2 while we continue to assess the damage. Alex was uninjured in the incident,” the team wrote.
The second practice session at Melbourne’s Albert Park will begin at 4pm local time (5am GMT).
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