Lee, 21, shot a six-under-par 67 on Friday to be at nine-under 137, having gone 36 holes without a bogey.

Lee's playing partner Marianne Skarpnord from Norway carded a 69 to move into a tie for second at six under alongside Swedish pair Jenny Haglund and Caroline Hedwall and Taiwanese amateur Tze-han Lim (68).

"I love coming back here," said Lee, who won the 2014 Vic Open as a teenaged amateur, going on to celebrate three victories as a pro on the US LPGA Tour.

"I have two good rounds under my belt and, hopefully, I can have another two good rounds.

"I holed a couple more putts but I did miss a couple more greens today."

Lee enjoyed playing in front of a large gallery with an all-star group also including Skarpnord and defending Vic Open champ Mel Reid from England.

"It was great - we were all pretty chatty," said Lee.

"We're all great golfers and we're here to show everybody how good we are."

The Australian world No.20 insisted she would not feel any extra pressure leading the tournament into the weekend, rather than being part of the chasing pack.

"I don't think it matters," she said.

"If you're going to win, you're going to win.

"In any situation, you still play your own game."

Skarpnord, the 2015 Vic Open champ, was saved from a much-higher score on Friday by a hot putter.

"Minjee played well - she holed putts from everywhere," the Norwegian said.

"My thought was to just try not to fall too far behind, just try and keep going at her pace, which is hard.

"But I did a fairly good job considering I didn't hit the ball that well."

Reid had a level-par 73 to be at one over.

First-round pacesetters Beth Allen and Cheyenne Woods found the going much tougher on Friday.

Allen shot a five-over 78, while fellow American Woods fared even worse with an 80 as the wind picked up in the afternoon.