A slow-burning session, which featured no track action for the opening five minutes, ended with a series of qualifying simulations in which Verstappen set a 1m30.267s lap to eclipse the two McLarens - which had found performance relative to the Red Bull driver overnight.
Verstappen had headed the field after the first set of soft-tyre runs, logging a 1m30.960s - slower than the previous day's headline effort as overnight rain had washed away some of the rubber on the track surface.
There was little running until the final 20 minutes, other than a smattering of longer runs from the Ferraris to assess the degradation further on the now-used tyres from the first run.
But with a third of the session's run-time left, many of the drivers dipped into another set of fresh softs in preparation for qualifying.
Oscar Piastri prised Verstappen off the top of the pile by 0.4s as the McLarens showed their hand, and was in turn beaten by Norris who set a 1m30.507s.
Verstappen could not better Norris's opening sector time, but found an advantage in the following splits over the Briton to move up to the front by 0.240s.
Persistent high levels of degradation ensured that any follow-up laps were slower as the best of the soft tyres had already been used, cementing the session in favour of the Dutchman - who topped all three practice sessions at Suzuka.
Source: Autosport