France, the reigning world champions, saved their best until last in Edmonton, with Simon Viain on their last leg.

However, his best effort was not enough to stop the Australians finishing first and taking the overall gold. 

They came home just 25 seconds ahead to take the win in 1 hour 19min 29sec.

The French eventually had to settle for just fifth with a time of 1:19.54.

United States came second, finishing just two seconds behind the winners in 1:19:3, and New Zealand were third in 1:19:39.

The mixed relay format is making its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games, so any country finishing in the top places gains valuable points in the battle to qualify.

Each team is comprised of two men and two women, who each complete a mini-triathlon course of a 300 metre swim, 6.6 kilometre bike and 1.6km run, before tagging the next athlete.

The order of the athletes must always be female-male-female-male.

Today's race was incredibly close with the leading team changing half a dozen times throughout.

France initially fell behind on the first leg swim, but their first athlete Sandra Dodet was able to claw back to the front group over the bike and run.

Jonathan Brownlee for Great Britain and Vincent Luis for France then put in a stunning performance on the second leg, exchanging the lead multiple times before each collapsing at the end.

At this point the eventual winners Australia were in the chasing pack alongside New Zealand, Canada, Belgium and the US, but by the end of the third leg all of Britain, New Zealand, Belgium, France, the US and Australia had a chance at gold.

With the final leg essentially turning into one long sprint, Jacob Birtwhistle for Australia managed to push ahead to seal the win for his country.