Sport England on Monday (October 3) awarded Commonwealth Games England £4 million ($5.1 million/€4.6 million) of National Lottery funding for Gold Coast 2018.

The funding, announced on the eve of the Commonwealth Games Federation General Assembly here, will be used to give Team England the opportunity to create the best possible performance environment for the athletes, coaches and support staff, it is claimed.

This will include holding a preparation camp prior to the Games in Australia, viewed as crucial to helping athletes acclimatise, as well as ensuring all support services are available to the team.

A full quota of around 400 athletes are expected to be able to represent England as a result of the funding, which will supplement money raised by Commonwealth Games England through sponsorship.

Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletes Advisory Board chairman Andrew Baildon warned that Australian athletes may struggle to compete.

"We’re expecting our athletes to perform at the highest level when other countries are funded to a far greater extent, particularly the British," the former, a five-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, told the Gold Coast Bulletin. 

"The fact the English are throwing even more money at the Commonwealth Games is a real concern because it will directly relate to them getting better performances.

"For the English to beat us on home soil would be a real stab in the heart for the Australian sporting world and we need to make sure that doesn’t happen."

England finished ahead of Australia in the medals table at Glasgow 2014 for the first time since Edinburgh 1986 with a total of 174 medals, including 58 gold.

England have not finished top of the medals table at a Games outside the United Kingdom since Kingston in 1966 when they won a total of 80 medals, 33 of them gold.

Gold Coast 2018 will be the fifth occasion that Australia have hosted the Commonwealth Games.

They finished top on the four previous occasions, at Sydney 1938, Perth 1962, Brisbane 1978 and Melbourne 2006.

But swimmer Melanie Wright, a double Olympic gold medallist, has warned England could have the edge at Gold Coast 2018.

Britain finished second in the medals table at Rio 2016 with a total of 67 medals, including 27 gold, compared to Australia, who were 10th with 29 medals, eight gold.

Many of the British team are expected to represent England at Gold Coast 2018. 

"Looking at [results from] Rio, they’re already well ahead of us and if we want to catch them we’re going to have to do something innovative," Wright told the Gold Coast Bulletin. 

"They’ve certainly trumped us in terms of their administration, support of athletes and the systems they have in place."