Esther Qin will fly the Australian flag in the final of the women's 3m springboard but Tokyo teammate Anabelle Smith narrowly missed the 12-diver field.
China's Shi Tingmao will start Sunday's final as runaway favourite, with an overall tally of 371.45 from her five dives - 24.6 points clear of her teammate Wang Han.
One of the biggest shocks of the day came from Canadian star Pamela Ware, who was sitting comfortably in ninth spot but went in feet first on her final dive after misjudging the board, earning no points for the "fail".
"I think that if I would have done the dive, I could have possibly hurt myself," the 28-year-old said.
"The jump that I did was way too forward at the end of the board - I was really over the end, so if I would have done the dive, I would have been thrown really far forward."
Two-time Olympian Qin, who finished sixth in Rio five years ago, qualified in eighth spot after opening with a sparkling inward dive that saw the 29-year-old in second place after round one.
She fell to 11th after the second round but continued to climb back up the leaderboard with her final three dives to score a combined 309.15
Smith was sitting ninth after the third round but dropped below the cut on her fourth dive after she incurred a two-point penalty for a restart, scoring just 39, and she was unable to claw her way back.
Australian Associated Press
