Carlos Sainz of Ferrari, who returned to the race vehicle just two weeks after surgery for appendicitis, finished second in a tight qualifying session under overcast skies at Albert Park and will be joined by Red Bull's ace on the front row.
The other Red Bull driver, Sergio Perez, finished third but will begin from sixth after receiving a three-place grid penalty for obstructing Nico Hulkenberg, which moved Lando Norris of McLaren up to third.
Oscar Piastri of McLaren is in fifth place, behind Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari, who won in 2022, who advances to fourth.
Verstappen, who is attempting to duplicate his achievement from the previous year when he started first and won a wild race in Melbourne, expressed his happiness with the outcome. "So far this weekend it has been a bit tough to find a good balance in the car," Verstappen remarked.
"And even in the first and second qualifying rounds, I didn't really feel like I could be competing for pole." However, when we made a few small tickles for the car, I felt like I could really push it to the maximum in Q3.
"Obviously there is room for improvement, but overall I'm happy with the performance."
The 26-year-old eliminated his competitors to record a blistering lap of one minute 15.915, 0.270 seconds faster than Sainz, to clinch his 35th career pole.
"I don't feel 100%, it's impossible after trying to recover for a lot of days in bed like I did," the Spaniard remarked following his incredible return in front of 130,000 supporters.
The good news is that I only feel discomfort and that everything feels a little off.
"It's a good thing I could close the visor and go for it today when the adrenaline kicked in."
George Russell of Mercedes finished eighth, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda of RB and Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.
Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion driver for Mercedes, was disappointed as he missed qualifying and will now start from eleventh place.
The two-time Melbourne winner Hamilton added, "It's not a great feeling for anyone in the team at the moment but we will keep working away."
"I'll be concentrating on returning tomorrow and attempting to perform better."
Verstappen, who won the first two races of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia both from pole, will require something spectacular to stop him.
Red Bull is trying to achieve a third straight 1-2 finish for the first time in the team's history, while the Dutchman is aiming for a record-tying tenth straight victory to match his own set last year.
Eight-time Australian pole-sitter Hamilton was a major casualty as Sainz emerged victorious in Q2, ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc.
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