With a flurry of medals toward the end of the evening session, Britain clocked up five gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

 

In the men's relay the quartet of Matthew Walker, Graham Edmonds, David Roberts and Rob Welbourn repeated their performance at the Athens Paralympics in 2004 to seal the victory in a thrilling race that saw them go head-to-head with the Australians on the final leg.

 

Welbourn was together with the Australians as they dived in for the final leg, but the Lincoln Vulcans swimmer kept his nerve to touch home first in 3min 58.28sec.

 

"We went in like that in Athens," said Welbourn. "I beat him then so I knew I could beat him again.

 

Walker added: "We lost out in China at the last World Championships so we had to do the business tonight. In Athens we became the first team to dip below four minutes and we've lowered that time again. Now we're World and Paralympic champions. We just need to win in Europe to get the set."

 

Because swimmers of different classifications go head-to-head in the relay races, the likely result is not known until the final swimmer hits the water.

 

"You can't tell how you're doing until the last leg," said Edmonds. "We know if we can get Rob in the water in first or second position we're in with a good chance. We did pretty well to defend our performance in Athens. We're still number one in the world which is a great feeling."

 

World record holder Nyree Lewis, Andrew Lindsay, James Anderson and Danielle Watts lived up to their billings by all winning gold in their respective events.

 

Lewis left it until the last 10 metres to pull ahead in the S6 100m backstroke and win in 1:28.99. "It was really hard in there," she said. "When you race against swimmers that can only use their legs it's really difficult to know exactly where they are - you can see the splashes.

 

"I wasn't far off my world record and I would have liked to lower that tonight but at the end of the day, the result of the race is most important."

 

Watts, an S1 swimmer, was thrilled with her result in the mixed 50m freestyle that saw her beat less disabled athletes from the S2 classification. The Oxford swimmer's time of 1:21.17 was just outside her best.

 

"I knew I was on good form, but I'm really surprised to have beaten the S2 swimmers," she said. "I've had a consistent period of training at home and I've had a good two weeks of preparation here in South Africa and that's obviously paid off."

 

Anderson was victorious in an extremely close S2 50m freestyle where all the medallists finished within half-a-second of each other. Anderson came back for a slow start to hit the wall first in 1:09.10.

 

"I slipped at the start as I was getting into the pool and I thought I'd blown it," he said. "I knew it would be tough today and I didn't realise until I'd won until I got out of the pool.

 

"It was so close, I can't believe it."

 

Lindsay also overcame tough opposition to win the gold medal in the S7 100m backstroke. He owed victory to a great second half of the race to win in 1:15.31, a tenth of a second off his world best.

 

"I was going for the world record but I'm not far off it so I'm happy with that," he said. "The competition has improved greatly over the last couple of years and the Argentineans and Japanese are starting to pose a real threat. 

 

"I know I'm not invincible so it was really important to come here and win."

 

Kenny Cairns was the third Scot to medal, picking up a silver in the S3 50m freestyle, while Colchester's Fran Williamson was on the form of her life to swim to silver in the S3 50m freestyle.

 

Swansea's Anthony Stevens swam a personal best in the morning's heats of the S5 50m freestyle so was disappointed to only get a bronze in the final.

 

Luton teenager Claire Warne, 13, was the surprise medallist of the night, winning bronze in the SM5 200m individual medley.