It was all over after the first length and for that reason, if for no other, the 15 minutes that followed the end of 48 years of Australian dominance over 1,500 metres were far more poignant than the 14mins 57.63sec in which it took David Davies to become the first Welshman in history to win any Commonwealth freestyle title.

Not only had Australians won all 12 crowns since 1958, they had also claimed 25 of a possible 36 medals of all colours in that time, including three clean sweeps. The hosts were absence from the podium for the first time in 56 years, as Davies stroked metronomically to a lonely triumph in a country that boasts an array of Olympic 30-lap champions, from Konrads and Rose in the 1950s and 60s to Perkins and Hackett at the last four Games from Barcelona to Athens.

History weighed heavily on Davies, the ironman from Barry who had come to "put down a marker" that gave warning to rivals of his growing stature. He fell shy of that, the pressure of patriotism burdening his performance and leaving him down on best by 12 seconds, also the wide margin by which he won the title over Canada's Andrew Hurd. Blood tests and other analysis would now be looked at to see whether there was any physical reason why he was not where he wanted to be on the clock. "I'm just glad to get the win," said Davies. "It's a huge relief. I've learned things from this and they're going to help in future."

When he saw Dave Haller, his Cardiff coach, and Bob Treffene, a sports scientist, Davies, 21, broke down and wept. "I didn't quite appreciate that this would affect me the way it has. It's taken me by surprise," said the Olympic and world bronze medal winner who has been in the glare of Welsh public attention since Hackett, reigning Olympic champion and world record holder, announced last November that shoulder injury would keep him in dry dock in Melbourne.

It is almost 30 years since Haller left Britain for Hong Kong complaining of a lack of facilities and support. Haller, Davies and training partner Gregor Tait will return home to better times: a showcase Olympic facility is on the Cardiff Bay front is nearing completion. "The timing couldn't be better, with Beijing around the corner," said Haller, who has recently had to endure a round-trip daily commute to Swansea to find long-course facilties.

Davies was thinking only of the moment for now. "I'm glad to get this weight off my shoulders. I've been expected to win and that's a new experience for me. I breezed through the Olympics but this was different. I realised that when Sean Kelly (a Britain and England coach) said he'd put a thousand dollars on me to win but he'd only get 20 back. I just hadn't realised how this moment would affect me. It sent shivers down my spine."

As the beautiful hymn that is Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (The Land Of My Fathers) drifted across the waters of Melbourne's aquatics cathedral and the first Welsh flag to be hoisted for a swimming champion in 32 years fluttered in the chill of a late summer evening, tears welled in Davies's eyes as he sang along, chest puffed out after receiving his medal from Perkins.

"I remember seeing him do 14:41 (the Games record) on the TV when I was nine. This was the first time I'd met him. It was surreal," said Davies after an emotional reunion with his parents, Paul and Sue, during his victory parade. "I was so proud out there. It's the first major medal I've won and I'm going to remember it for the rest of my life."

So will Australia remember the only medal to go the way of her men. It remains the worst performance by the male Dolphins - world no1 just four years ago - since Percy Oliver was the sole Australian winner at the 1938 Games. A last-gasp, pride-ridden, anger-filled triumph in the 4x100m medley in a Games record of 3min 34.27sec over England tipped the balance in the duel in the pool 17 to 15 golds in favour of the hosts of a great British performance.

A draw would have been stunning. The closest the three home nations have come to toppling Australians since England topped the medals table in 1938 was, nonetheless, sensational. Impose these results here on the world championships last summer and Britain's three bronze medals would have been bolstered by a further one gold, three silver and a bronze medal and Australia's 4x200m quartet, including Hackett, would have been beaten by Britain.

Quite a result, though not one that would match what former head coach to Australia Don Talbot described as "the strongest 'clean' female force the world has ever seen". There was no better example of that that the world record of 3mins 56.30sec set by Sophie Edington, Leisel Jones, Jessicah Schipper and Libby Lenton in the 4x100m medley ahead of England's Melanie Marshall, Kate Haywood, Terri Dunning and Francesca Halsall, on a British record of 4mins 04.61sec.

This powerful sorority of Dolphins has notched up six clean sweeps here, not quite the ten they could have got but nevertheless an amazing achievement and testiment to the long-term planning that got them there.

Out of the obscurity of youth came Stephanie Rice with a Games record of 4:41.91 over 400 metres medley ahead of a British record of 4mins 44.60sec for England's Rebecca Cooke. Jessica Schipper shut everyone else out of gold on butterfly with a third title, over 200 metres in 2:06.09, ahead of teammate Felicity Galvez and England's Terri Dunning who dipped under 2:10 for the first time, with a 2mins 09.87sec.

Not even at their height did Australia's men ever win 16 of 19 titles. The female Dolphins are something to behold but Australia obviously now needs to go away and plan a revival among their men and stop relying on Mssrs Thorpe and Hackett to help them out of a hole. They should be the cream not the crop.

Don Talbot, former head of Australian swimming now helping Britain as a consultant, said "the image of the tough guy representing Australia being hard to beat in the water has been shattered at this meet ... Australia need to do some soul-searching and hard decision-making".

His successor, Alan Thompson, said it would be "silly to say you're not disappointed that there's not more gold medals or a higher standing in the medals tally", however, there was not one male swimmer on his team whose performance he could criticise.

Britons, meanwhile, had their own form of clean sweeps to celebrate: at no other time in history have British men ever conquered all freestyle distances from 100 to 1,500 metres, or won all three backstroke titles or bothe medley titles. They did in Melbourne.

On the last night there were more British records, behind Australia in the 4x100m medley, Liam Tancock setting a British record of 54.42sec over 100m backstroke to lead Chris Cook, Matt Bowe and Ross Davenport to a new standard of 3mins 36.40sec. In the middle of a very happy six days for British swimmers was a gem: Melanie Marshall equalled the record medal haul achieved by any England athlete ever at a Commonwealth Games, with six visits to the podium, matching swimmer Brian Brinkley in 1974 and shooter Malcolm Cooper in 1982.