Team Australia takes police escort to a closing ceremony that proves spectacular

Just like that, the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics have drawn to an official close.

While the opening ceremony 16 days ago was a sprawling affair across four different locations, the closing ceremony was held inside the Verona Arena amphitheater.

It was a masterclass in Italian flair and speedy walkouts.

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The closing ceremony had more than 440 performers: singers, dancers and musicians were strutting their stuff on stage with performances from Joan Thiele, Major Lazer and Marine Chagnon.

Have to admit, I don't think the architects of Arena di Verona back in 30AD ever would've dreamt of having Major Lazer perform their club hit "Light it Up" in its colosseum.

Here's a round-up of some of our favourite story lines - the weird and the wonderful - out of the ceremony.

Team Australia nearly doesn't make it

It wouldn't be the Olympics without a bit of drama. Team Australia found themselves cutting it close after they required a police escort from Livingo to Verona as traffic banked up ahead of the ceremony.

Flag bearer Cooper Woods shared on his social media the sirens blaring to get the team bus through the chaotic traffic to make it on time, with Danielle Scott also flying the flag for Australia.

Talk about VIP treatment.

Iconic characters grace ceremony

With the announcement that Verona's open-air Roman amphitheatre, famed as the setting of Romeo and Juliet, would be the location of closing ceremony, people expected the arena to be lit up by operatic drama.

And that it was.

As athletes marched down the red carpet, flags in hand, they were greeted by iconic characters from Rigoletto, Figaro, Aida and Madama Butterfly.

Interactions were unique.

Athletes attempted to be unfazed by the chaos of the characters running in between them, while others looked unnerved or cracked a laugh as frantic opera figures darted between the lines.

Madama Butterfly also appeared on stage later in the ceremony to remember those in the Olympic community who had died recently, soundtracked by the opera's Humming Chorus.

A dance-a-thon for the ages

The artistic heart of the night was the segment named "Beauty of the Challenge: Elevation".

With all the dancing you could ever want in a ceremony, we saw trampolining aerialists bouncing to techno music, fouettés by the dozen and a clash of hip-hop and ballet that delighted the crowds.

The segment represented the hard work of athletes leading up to and during the Winter Games and the gruelling climb to Olympic glory.

The performers were dancers from the Ballet School of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, led by principal dancer Roberto Bolle, who was also a soloist during the 2006 Turino opening ceremony.

Final medals handed out

As is tradition, there is always a medal ceremony that takes place during the closing ceremony.

The final medals of these Games were for the men's and women's 50km cross-country skiing mass start.

On the men's podium, it was an all-Norwegian sweep, headlined by Milano Cortina star Johannes Høsflot Klæbo.

Klaebo completed his historic gold-medal sweep of the men's cross-country skiing events by winning his sixth race and setting the record for the most golds by one athlete at a single Winter Olympics.

And to hand out the medals was the head honcho, International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry.

With the flame extinguished in Italy and the Olympic flag handed over to France for French Alps 2030, Verona's send-off was one to remember with dramatic flair and a unifying sense across the Games.

Arrivederci, Italy!