Playing in her 11th Test match, Perry has been in sublime form on her way to an unbeaten 82 before rain began falling and the covers were called on just before tea.
A third Test century would equal the record for the most Test tons of any player, joining Jill Kennare and Betty Wilson.
Perry is also now average above 80 in Test cricket, with her figure of 83.40 a record for any player with 10 innings or more.
The 32-year-old has been brilliant on Thursday at Trent Bridge.
She has guided anything short and wide to the backward-point boundary, while also cover-driving superbly against the spin.
She produced one of the shots of the day when she sent star England spinner Sophie Ecclestone to the cover boundary with the first ball she bowled, and later took 16 off one Kate Cross over.
Perry missed out on big runs in Australia’s last Ashes Test in Canberra in 2021-22, but scored a century in her last Test match in England and a double-hundred against them in 2017-18.
Perry’s runs came as part of a 119-run third-wicket stand with Tahlia McGrath, who made 61 before she was bowled by a beautiful Ecclestone ball that drifted towards leg and spun back to hit the top of middle.
Earlier, Phoebe Litchfield had been left to rue a DRS mishap on debut when she was given out lbw for 23.
She looked in good touch early, working the ball off her pads neatly and playing a nice drive through cover-point for one of her four boundaries.
But any hope of a big score on debut was dashed when she padded up to a ball from Cross that angled across her and took her on the front pad.
The 20-year-old immediately walked without any lengthy consultation with non-striker Beth Mooney, before ball-tracking showed the delivery would have missed off stump.
Dropped by Cross off her own bowling on five and Danni Wyatt in the gully on 19, Mooney later became Lauren Filer’s first Test wicket when she edged her to gully again on 33.
The Test match kicks off the multi-format series, with four points on the line in this match and then two points available for each of the three ODIs and three T20s.
Australia have held the Ashes since 2015, winning or drawing the past four series.