Paddon will continue to push hard today. He is using the domestic championship to maintain his seat-time ahead of his return to the WRC at Rally Portugal next month.
"We are just doing our own thing and that has been the same since the first stage," the 30-year-old said. "There are stage records out there; I have personal goals as well. I just want to keep pushing and build things up for when I go back overseas."
Subaru driver Ben Hunt made a superb recovery from an early 50-second time penalty to hold second place overnight — making up the lost time and opening up a 38.5s gap to third-placed Matt Summerfield.
The 2015 champion was particularly aggressive after getting a penalty for checking in late to stage three.
"It gave us something to fight back for," Hunt said. "I love chasing people down. I had a ball out there. The car is handling fantastic and everything is going good.
"Once we fine-tune some of these little starting problems we will be away.
"We will just go out there like we did today, not take any risks or anything."
Summerfield, who is debuting his new-style Mitsubishi Mirage, struggled for pace early in the day before finding a better rhythm later. He managed to best Emma Gilmour to hold third overall.