KIDDERMINSTER'S Claire Cashmore ended the London 2012 Games with her third medal but the home quartet suffered agony as they were pipped to gold by Australia in the 4x100 T34 medley relay.

The British foursome, who are world record holders, finished just three hundreds of a second behind the Australians.

The silver means London 2012 has been Cashmore's best ever Games, winning silver in the 100m breaststroke, bronze in the 4x100m breaststroke relay and a second silver in tonight's thrilling race.

Overall, She has now won six Paralympic medals in three tournaments with four bronze and two silvers as the gold she craves still eludes her.

Afterwards, Cashmore said: "It's fantastic, I feel privileged to be part of such a great team.

"It's my last swim tonight so it's pretty gutting to be so close, it is hard but we did an amazing job and I don't think we could have done any more."

With the relay akin to a high-speed game of aquatic chess as swimmers of different classifacations squared up to each other, it was hard to predict the outcome of the race until the final dramatic seconds.

After a solid race by Heather Frederiksen, GB were sixth but a superb second by Cashmore leg started to reel in the rest of the field, which was being led by Canada and Russia.

Stephanie Millward further strengthened GB's position in the third leg and despite a massive lead by the Russians, they were set to fade in a close final leg.

Louise Watkin was expected to produce a powerful finish and did so with a barn-storming display as the event ended in almost a photo finish between GB, Australia, Russia and Australia.

But Jacqueline Freney finished just ahead of Watkin by the most minute of margins. With the USA taking third.