( CNN ) -- England held off a late charge by Australia to top the Commonwealth Games medal table as the eleventh , and final , day of competition drew to a close . As many as 70,000 people attended the closing ceremony in Hampden Park after a day of action that began in a deluge and ended with Australia winning the final gold medal of the games as the baton was passed to the country 's Gold Coast , who will be the next host in 2018 . The highlight of the day was the grueling men 's road race , a 168-kilometer test of endurance that started in horrendous conditions . Despite suffering two front wheel punctures Geraint Thomas , who only last week finished the Tour de France , won Wales ' first ever cycling gold medal after finishing one minute and 21 second ahead of his nearest rival , New Zealand 's Jack Bauer . Elsewhere Jamaica beat England in the bronze medal match in the netball whilst Australia thrashed New Zealand to clinch gold , destroying their rivals 58-40 in what was one of the Commonwealth Games ' few truly world class fields . The final gold of the tournament was won by Australia in the men 's squash doubles final . But it was n't enough to overtake England , who won a whopping 174 medals , 58 of them gold . Yet the closing ceremony had an antipodean feel as Australia 's Gold Coast were handed the honor of hosting the next tournament , before Kylie Minogue performed on stage . Apparently caught up in the excitement of the moment , Australian runner Genevieve LaCaze crashed the stage during Minogue 's performance , dancing and waving an Australian flag before being removed by security . `` It was my 25th birthday , '' she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . `` I just saw the opportunity to get on stage with Kylie . '' After the chaos that had plagued the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi , Glasgow ran a largely error free games that had been seen by many in Scotland as a chance to wave its flag on the international stage . In September Scotland votes in an independence referendum to decide whether it should leave the United Kingdom . But with Scotland 's bitterly divided political elite looking on Malaysia 's Prince Imran , president of the Commonwealth Games Federation , declared the games the `` best ever '' . `` The Commonwealth Games are known as the Friendly Games . Glasgow has succeeded in making them even more than that . These have truly been . the People 's Games , '' he said at the closing ceremony . `` Glasgow - you were pure , dead brilliant . ''
The Commonwealth Games come to a close . England top the medal table , with Australia second . Hosts Scotland enjoyed their best ever games . 70,000 people watch the closing ceremony in Glasgow .