It wasn't quite a lights-to-flag win for Hanson, who was jumped by fellow front-row starter Michael Caruso (Ash Seward Motorsport Alfa) at the start.
But it didn't take long for the Melbourne Performance Centre Audi to get past, Hanson breezing past Caruso down the front straight at the start of the second lap.
He was then able to quickly pull a small gap over Caruso, who in turn found himself fighting to hold onto second place with Liam McAdam (Forza Brakes Motorsport Audi).
The Caruso/McAdam battle turned physical on just the third lap, McAdam punting Caruso off at Honda.
He copped a drive-through for his efforts while Caruso dropped to the back of the field.
That was all good news for Hanson, who was left well and truly in control of the race. All he had to do was manage the gap back to Jordan Cox (Garry Rogers Motorsport Peugeot), who popped up in second to secure a 1.7s victory.
"That was absolutely awesome," said Hanson. "No one knew what the tyres were going to do then, it was learning own the fly.
"I got the gap early, then I sort of let Jordan come to me in the middle [of the race] so I could manage it at the end. There is still plenty in the car which is awesome."
Dylan O'Keefe (GRM Peugeot) finished a somewhat lonely third ahead of Fabian Coulthard, who banked his best TCR result in his Wall Racing Honda.
Zac Soutar (Team Soutar Motorsport Honda) finished fifth ahead of Aaron Cameron (GRM Peugeot), Tony D'Alberto (Wall Racing Honda), Lachlan Mineeff (Purple Sector VW) and Michael Clemente (Michael Clemente Motorsport Honda).
The battle for 10th, which will be pole for tomorrow's second race, was fiercely contested, Ben Bargwanna (GRM Peugeot) winning out at the expense of Bailey Sweeny (HMO Custome Racing Hyundai) and James Moffat (GRM Renault).
Sweeny's 11th place was the closest thing to a highlight for the HMO squad which endured a shocker of a race. Both Nathan Morcom and Josh Buchan, who went into the race leading the series, were forced into the pits mid-race to fix steering damage.
Morcom got back out and was classified 19th while Buchan was a DNF.
Will Brown had a tough race too, his MPC Audi needing mid-race repairs as he slumped to 18th.
The TCR Australia action continues with two races at 1:05pm and 4:10pm local time tomorrow.
You can watch them both live and free on Motorsport.tv.
