Goals from Fahid Ben Khalfallah, Besart Berisha and Kosta Barbarouses looked to have sealed all three points for Kevin Muscat's side against the league leader, with Andy Keogh and Rostyn Griffiths replying for the home side.
But Maclaren's angled shot in the 89th minute completed a rousing comeback in front of a crowd of 12,271 as Glory rebounded from 3-1 down with 12 minutes remaining to go four points clear at the top.
Muscat cut a forlorn figure after the match as he rued his team's failure to walk away with the three points.
"We scored some very good goals, but in the end we were playing in patches and not for the full 90 minutes," he said.
"We conceded some ridiculous goals."
Glory coach Kenny Lowe praised his team for their fightback, but feared the worst for striker Chris Harold, who was forced off with injury.
"Ligament injury is what I'm hearing and that could be a fair old while," Lowe said.
"Sometimes ligaments are worse than breaks, but we'll touch wood and hope for the best."
Victory, which moved joint second behind Adelaide United only on goal difference, was full of intent from the first whistle, flowing forward at every opportunity.
And it came as no surprise when its Tunisian star Khalfallah rifled the visitor ahead from the edge of the area after a clever exchange of passes with fellow import Gui Finkler.
The goal was a reward for some incisive build up play but the lead didn't last long with Glory hitting back inside three minutes.
Keeper Nathan Coe was the culprit, from Victory's point of view, as he felled Chris Harold as the striker raced onto a Ruben Zadkovich pass, and up stepped Keogh to nonchalantly stroke home the spot kick for his ninth goal of the season - one behind the compeition's leading scorer Nathan Burns.
Glory suffered a blow in the 28th minute when it lost Harold with what appeared to be an ankle injury to be replaced by new signing, German Dragan Paljic.
And it was suffering again in the 42nd minute when Josh Risdon coughed up possession and the classy Khalfallah fed Berisha, who cut inside to fire a rising shot past keeper Danny Vukovic to put Victory back in front.
Victory pounced again against a sluggish Glory in the 57th minute as Barbarouses burst into the box, and though his cutback was intercepted by Risdon, the ball rolled invitingly back into his path and he stabbed his shot home from close range.
Griffiths, who will miss Perth's next match against Sydney FC on 7 February after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season, set up a grandstand finish with a towering 78th minute header from Nebojsa Marinkovic's corner after Coe had rushed off his line without getting anywhere near the ball.
And then Maclaren pounced to snare Glory a share of the spoils with time fast running out.
Five yellow cards were dished out in an often spiteful encounter in which referee Peter Green was forced to separate players during heated exchanges.
