Aussie gold mixes with heartbreak at Games

There was rolled gold and lucky gold but also last-gasp heartbreak for Australia on the final day of the Commonwealth Games.

The host nation added five more golds on Sunday, finishing with 80 - only three times has Australia won more.

But with the overall triumphant tone of 11 days' of sporting dominance comes two sour last notes.

Australia's netballers blew a four-goal final-quarter lead and were beaten by a last-second England goal in one of the boilovers of the Games.

And Australia's women's rugby sevens team lost their gold medal match to New Zealand in extra-time - the Kiwis literally scoring a golden point.

Overall, Australia were well clear of England (45 golds) on the medal tally.

And the locals also collected 59 silver and 59 bronze medals for an overall tally of 198 - the fourth-largest haul at a Commonwealth Games.

On Sunday, wheelchair marathoner Kurt Fearnley rolled to gold in his last race in Australian colours.

"Mate, it doesn't get better than that," said Fearnley, later given the honour of being Australia's flag-bearer at the closing ceremony.

Compatriot Madison de Roazario won the women's wheelchair marathon with another local, Eliza Ault-Connell taking silver.

And another Australian, Michael Shelley, won consecutive Commonwealth men's marathon golds - but was lucky.

Shelley had settled for silver until told by friends in the crowd that Scottish leader Callum Hawkins had collapsed in a gutter two kilometres from the line.

"A couple of hundred metres later my legs started giving me the wobbles and I thought 'I could be on the road myself in 500 metres'," he said.

"But I got to the finish line which was all I needed to do."

Sunday's gold for Australia's men's basketballers was more straightforward: they hammered Canada 87-47 in the finale.

"A lot of them, they gave up significant financial opportunities overseas to stay and play in the Commonwealth Games," Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis said.

"It meant a lot to them as a group."

Australia's men's squash doubles pairing Zac Alexander and David Palmer, who came out of retirement to compete as a 41-year-old on the Gold Coast, also collected gold on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Australians Lisa Weightman and Jess Trengove finished second and third respectively in the women's marathon.

And Australia's women's doubles squash duo Rachael Grinham and Donna Urquhart took the bronze medal.