Hyundai driver Neuville won only one of Friday's five stages, but the defending rally winner clocked a series of consistent times to lead 2011 Acropolis conqueror Ogier by 2.8s.
Championship and overnight rally leader Kalle Rovanpera managed to limit the damage of starting first on the road to end Friday third, 25.5s adrift, with Toyota title rival Elfyn Evans a further 5.5s back in fourth.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi held fifth ahead of Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, with Dani Sordo sitting seventh in the third Hyundai.
M-Sport Ford endured another difficult day that started with Pierre-Louis Loubet retiring from the day’s action before stage two with a suspected water pump issue. Ott Tanak ran as high as fourth before a late departure from a tyre fitting zone prompted a time penalty, dropping the 2019 world champion to eighth.
The morning’s hot, dry weather continued into the afternoon presenting much drier roads than those previously navigated, which featured puddles left by Storm Daniel.
The complexion of the rally changed before the afternoon’s action begun when Tanak suffered a water pump issue during the mid-point tyre fitting zone. It was fixed, but Tanak left the zone 22 minutes late, incurring 3m40s time penalty.
Ogier clocked the fastest time through the afternoon’s first test, stage four, the second pass through Loutraki (10.37km). Officials ultimately cancelled the stage for crowd safety reasons after eight of the nine remaining Rally1 cars completed the route.
The eight-time world champion, competing in a partial season, was 2.2s faster than rally leader Neuville, who managed to increase his overall rally lead to 2.4s.
Source: Autosport