A dead-heat not even a fingernail could separate, a legend’s retirement tears and a son of a gun performs his own aquatic alchemy.

That was day six in Glasgow as Australia’s mega pool party became a record Commonwealth Games haul which included three gold medals inside five minutes at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre.

The Dolphins morphed into the Orcas as they claimed another nine gold medals to make it 37 in total, leaving in their wake the previous record of 28 they set on the Gold Coast in 2018. Another 16 silver and 23 bronze made it 76 medals in total. South Africa was the next best on the gold medal board with six and second overall with 22.

Veteran Kyle Chalmers and the delightfully named Greg Armbruster dead-heated in a men’s 50m butterfly final in which no silver medal was awarded. Cam McEvoy’s bronze gave Australia a sixth podium clean-sweep in the pool. The pair both touched the wall in 22.73sec with McEvoy next in 22.92.

“It’s epic, at the same time as him [points to Chalmers]. It doesn’t get any better than that,” Armburster told Channel 7.

“It’s amazing, we are two country kids who are now celebrating on top of the Commonwealth,” said Chalmers, whose 10th gold medal across three Commonwealth Games gave him another tie, as he equalled Ian Thorphe’s record.

Kai Taylor, 22, the son of Australian swimming great Hayley Lewis, won from lane one in the men’s 200m freestyle, 36 years after mum captured five gold medals and a bronze as a 15-year-old at the Auckland 1990 Commonwealth Games.

Lewis’ excitement was palpable in the stands.

“Mum Hayley Lewis is losing her mind in the stands,” Giaan Rooney said on Channel 7. “And understandably, that was an extraordinary swim Kai. Led from start to finish. What a swim.”

Taylor’s coach Dean Boxall - the great celebrator - did not disappoint after Taylor finished in 1min45.22sec, 0.5 of a second ahead of England veteran James Guy and Matt Richards of Wales, who tied for silver.

Boxall told reporters in the mixed zone: “Like mother like son.”

Taylor went out hard and the bold approach worked as he claimed his first individual gold, having been a part of Australia’s triumphant 4x200m relay team earlier in the Games.

“If you’ve got a lane you’ve got a chance, that’s what I’ve always told myself,” Taylor said after winning from lane one.

“I made my first ever team in 2023 from lane 8.

“I backed my training and thought you know what, I’m not going to have any regrets. I don’t want to look back and go, ‘maybe I could have gone out harder’. If I went out too hard and died, at least I gave it a shot. Just managed to hold on.

“Dean and I have spoken about it…from the outside lane it’s hard to see people. Just go out hard an hold on.”

The story of the night, however, belonged to an emotional Shayna Jack, who was brought to tears after she claimed a bronze medal behind Dolphins teammates Meg Harris and Alex Perkins in the 50m freestyle final.

“I am proud of everything in the end,” the retiring 27-year-old told Channel 7 .

“Sometimes it’s hard to get up knowing it was the end. Being able to compose myself was really hard. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and my beautiful family in the stands.

“I just hope I made my country proud, and I hope everyone at home is proud of everything I’ve done, but also the person I am.”

Jack, who was given a guard of honour by the team poolside, served a doping ban from 2019 to 2021 after unintentionally ingesting the banned substance Ligandrol.

She has always maintained she did not knowingly ingest the drug and the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled as such, reducing her ban from four to two years.

Australia completed its impressive haul in the two final races of the swim programme, the women’s and men’s 4x100m medley relays, to give the Dolphins a clean sweep of teams events.

The result means the swimmer smashed through the million-dollar barrier in bonuses from billionaire benefactor Gina Rinehart with the final payout figure $1,272,500.

Individual gold medallists receive $20,000, silver medallists $15,000 and bronze winners $10,000 each per event, as well as each relay champion picking up $5000 each per event.

Lani Pallister, who became the first woman to complete the 400m/800m/1500m treble at a Commonwealth Games, pockets $80,000.

Sam Short’s three freestyle golds and a relay triumph earn him $65,000, while Harris’s six gold medals (four relays and two individual) will turn into $60,000.

After missing out in the 200m freestyle, Short responded in the 1500m less than two hours later, holding off a fast-finishing Dan Whiffen from Northern Ireland to complete a sweep of the 400m, 800m and 1500m events.

Britt Catelluzzo produced a personal best at the perfect time in the women’s 200m butterfly to defy local hope, Keanna McInnes, who was charging home with the crowd behind her, but the Australian held on by 0.2 seconds with Lizzy Dekkars claiming bronze.

Australia were denied a podium sweep by the barest of margins in the women’s 100m S9 freestyle with Lakeisha Patterson setting a personal best to claim gold ahead of teammate Emily Beecroft.

In other sports, the Australian women’s 3x3 basketball team, completed a dominant Commonwealth Games with a rout of Uganda in the gold medal match, but there was an all-too-familiar heartbreak for the men as they had to settle for silver.

The women had a perfect record heading into the final ahead of surprise packets Uganda despite the loss of West Australian Emma Clarke due to injury that had left them without any rotations for the medal matches.

But it didn’t seem to faze them as WA’s Amy Atwell produced 13 points, helping defeat Jamaica 21-8 before downing Uganda in the final 21-11.

History would also repeat for the men’s team, but it was not welcome as they were once again left to rue what might have been as they fell to England once again as they did in Birmingham.

In the dying moments, Perth Wildcats great Jesse Wagstaff looked to outbound a pass to try and force overtime, but the team had transitioned to the other side of the court as he watched it fly out of bounds.

He admitted it was a tough pill to swallow.

“You lose a silver medal, and kind of win a bronze. It is a privilege to represent this country and obviously a proud moment winning a silver but it doesn’t exactly feel like that right now,” Wagstaff said.

“It probably could’ve gone either way, but some calls either way and some buckets that don’t drop and all of a sudden you’re on the losing end. That’s how 3x3 works.

“It’s been a phenomenal experience.”

There was joy for the men’s wheelchair basketball team who beat England 19-13 thanks to a strong performance from Eithen Leard. The Wombats made it back-to-back golds.