McIntosh, who won the world 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley titles in Budapest earlier this year, held off Australia's Olympic 100m and 200m backstroke champion Kaylee McKeown to earn gold in 2min 08.70sec.

McKeown, who had earlier won the women’s 200m backstroke in a Games record, turned for home in the lead but ended up taking silver in 2:09.52, with bronze going to England's Abbie Wood in 2:10.68.

"I don’t think there's much pressure," McIntosh said.

"The only pressure I focus on is the pressure I put on myself and that’s all I care about."

Meanwhile rumours of Adam Peaty's sporting demise appear exaggerated, with England’s multiple Olympic and world champion reaching tomorrow’s 50m breaststroke final in convincing fashion a day after finishing fourth in the men’s 100m breaststroke.

Peaty, who has recently recovered from a broken foot, won his men's 50m breaststroke semi-final in 27.03 seconds ahead of the fellow Englishman who took an unexpected gold yesterday, James Wilby, who clocked 27.65.

Only one man bettered that - Australia’s Sam Williamson, who won the second semi-final in 27.01.

Australia's Kyle Chalmers, who has had a turbulent time with the media at these Games, earned his first individual medal in the pool as he won the men's 100m freestyle event at which he was Rio 2016 champion and Tokyo 2020 silver medallist.

Chalmers, the fastest qualifier, won in 47.51 from England's Olympic 200m freestyle champion Tom Dean, who clocked 47.89 ahead of Scotland's Duncan Scott, in bronze on 48.27.

Australia's double Olympic freestyle champion Emma McKeon added women's 50m butterfly gold to the 100m butterfly silver she has already secured here.

McKeon swooped home in 25.90 as South Africa's Erin Gallagher and Holly Barratt shared silver with identical times of 26.05.

McKeon, who has already won more Commonwealth titles than any other Australian swimmer, has now taken her collection to 12 golds.

Chad Le Clos may not have been thrilled to have won silver rather than gold in yesterday's men's 200m butterfly final, but it earned him an 18th medal that meant he is now joint owner of the record total along with swimmers Mick Gault of England and Phil Adams of Australia.

The target the 30-year-old South African is now shooting at is the clear record of Commonwealth medals owned - and he qualified for tomorrow's men's 100m butterfly final with the second fastest time, 51.64, behind the 51.52 swam in the first semi-final by Australia's Matthew Temple.

Also through as fifth fastest with a time of 52.16 was Australia's pop singer/swimmer Cody Simpson.

McKeown won the women's 200m backstroke in a Games record of 2:05.80, eclipsing the mark set in 2018 by Canada's Kylie Masse.

Yesterday exactly the same thing happened in the women's 100m backstroke.

Masse took silver in 2:07.81, with bronze going to Scotland's Katie Shanahan, who recorded 2:09.22.

South Africa's 18-year-old Pieter Coetze, who had already won the 100m backstroke title, added a silver in the 50m version as he finished in 24.77 behind New Zealand's Andrew Jeffcoat, who came home in 24.65.

Canada's Javier Acevedo earned bronze in 24.97.

It was a breakthrough title for the 23-year-old, who has previously won silver and bronze medals at the Oceania Championships.

England's Maisie Summers-Newton won the women's 100m breaststroke SB6 title by a huge margin, finishing in 1:32.72 from team-mate Grace Harvey, who clocked 1:43.29, with bronze going to Canada's Camille Berube in 1:43.81.

Matthew Levy of Australia, who set an S7 record in the men's 50m freestyle on the Gold Coast in 2018, powered through to another gold as he touched home first in 28.95.

Singapore's Wei Soong Toh was second in 29.10, with bronze going to South Africa's Christian Sadie in 29.78.

The final event of the evening, the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, saw England’s Olympic individual champion Tom Dean cutting down on the big lead inherited by Australia’s Mack Horton for the last leg, but the latter held on to bring his team home in a Games record of 7:04.96.

England took silver in 7:07.50, with bronze going to Wales in 7:10.64.