The Brazilian was cheered on to gold for the third time at these Games, pulling away from his rivals to touch the wall in 35.40sec and retain the crown he has held since Beijing 2008.

"I took the maximum advantage," said Dias, who will be looking to claim a fourth gold medal tomorrow when he competes in the men’s 4x100m medley relay 34 points event.

"I concentrated myself before getting into the pool, and it's time to enjoy this moment.

"The public is loving it and when everybody’s silent it’s full concentration."

Great Britain’s Andrew Mullen took the silver in 37.94, while Hungary’s Zsolt Vereczkei came away with bronze in 38.92.

Vereczkei has medalled in this event at every Paralympics since Barcelona 1992, including three golds between then and Sydney 2000.

Another swimming legend triumphing this evening was Spain’s Teresa Perales, who clinched her first Paralympic gold medal in the women’s 50m backstroke S5 to add to her one silver and two bronzes from previous editions of the Games. 

A time of 43.03 saw her secure her seventh Paralympic title in a career that began at Sydney 2000.

Czech Republic’s Bela Trebinova won silver in 44.51 as Norway’s Sarah-Louise Rung claimed bronze in 45.40.

There were also a number of world records today, including one for Australia’s Maddison Elliott in the women’s 50m freestyle S8.

The 17-year-old broke her own global mark of 30.13 to win her third gold medal at Rio 2016, clocking a time of 29.73.

Compatriot Lakeisha Patterson equalled the previous record to take silver, while China’s Jiang Shengnan took bronze with an Asian record time of 30.53.

China picked up a further four golds, headlined by Huang Wenpan’s world record-breaking performance in the men’s 150m individual medley SM3.

Huang won in 2:40.19 to break the record for the second time in three months and claim his fifth gold medal at these Games.

A European record time of 2:40.75 handed world champion Dmytro Vynohradets of Ukraine silver, while Huang’s team-mate Du Jianping was third in 2:52.32.

World champion Pan Shiyun of China won the men’s 100m freestyle S7 in 1:00.82, completing a clean sweep of his three events at Rio 2016 and becoming a five-time Paralympic champion overall in the process. 

Colombia’s Carlos Serrano nabbed silver in 1:01.84 to conclude his Paralympic debut with a third medal, while Ukraine’s Ievgenii Bogodaiko was third in 1:01.12 for his seventh medal of the Games.

There was a second Rio 2016 gold for China’s Wang Yinan thanks to success in the men’s 50m freestyle S8 in 26.24.

The Ukrainian pairing of Bohdan Hrynenko and Iurii Bozhynskyi were a close second and third in 26.67 and 26.75 respectively.

China’s Cheng Jiao and Deng Yue occupied the top two spots on the podium in the women’s 50m backstroke S4, with Cheng collecting her third gold overall in 48.11.

Deng was 1.9 seconds back in the silver medal position as Ukraine’s Maryna Verbova took bronze in 52.28.

The British women’s 4x100m medley relay 34 points team lowered their world record on the way to gold.

Stephanie Millward held out to touch in first in 4:45.23 and break the three-year-old former best by 0.98 seconds.

Australian took silver in an Oceanian record time of 4:45.85, while the United States sealed bronze in 4:50.34 for an Americas record.

For a full set of results, check out our live blog here.