"If anything, it’s increased the interest in people coming to Melbourne and Victoria," he told the Victoria State Upper House inquiry into the cancellation of the event, which was announced in July by the then Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews on the grounds of spiralling costs.

Andrews claimed that, with 973 days until the start of the Games, the original forecast budget for the event of AUD$2.6 billion (£1.3 billion/$1.7 billion/€1.5 billion) was expected to be AUD$6 billion (£3.1 billion/$4 billion/€3.6 billion).

"I cannot stand here and say to you that I have any confidence that even AUD$7 billion number would appropriately and adequately fund these Games," Andrews said.

He admitted in August, however, that the business case for cancelling the Games was “hardly the greatest piece of work”, and resigned from his position last month, a year into his election for a third term.

A top Treasury official has revealed that a costings report the then-Andrews Government relied on to budget for the event was "effectively a desktop analysis" based on the cost of the 2018 Gold Coast Games, plus inflation.

Documents released this week to the inquiry show Visit Victoria spent AUD$1.9 million ($1.2million/£990,000/€1.1million) of its AUD$26 million ($16.3million/£13.4million/€15.5million) marketing budget promoting the Games before they were dropped on July 18, www.afr.com reports.

A promotional video, A Games Like No Other launched at the 2022 Birmingham Games Closing Ceremony, cost nearly AUD$590,000 ($371,000/£306,000/€353,000) to produce.

McClements flew to Birmingham and London three times in connection with the Games, at a cost to taxpayers of AUD$41,032 ($25,800/£21,280/€24,500).

He said the trips were "warranted".

"The slogan cost $600,000 ... I think we’re all in the wrong game and we should become consultants. That’s a lot of money," Nationals MP Melina Bath said of the video’s cost.