Caitlin McClatchey celebrates her 400m freestyle gold

The overall total was four short of the 33 won in Edinburgh in 1986, but the gold medal haul exceeds the country's previous best (in Brisbane) by three.

The unforeseen success, particularly in the pool, captured the interest of sports fans across the nation.

The test now will be to build upon that success for the future.

Undoubtedly the performance of Scotland's swimmers - who won 12 medals, including six golds - was the highlight for most interested onlookers.

Fabulous efforts by Caitlin McClatchey, Gregor Tait and David Carry, who each won two golds, put their more illustrious Australian and English counterparts in the shade.

It is no coincidence that swimming is a professional sport in Scotland and the medal-winners in Melbourne reaped the benefits of the full-time coaching that their peers in the athletics team are not afforded.

That said, Chris Baillie, who took 110m hurdles silver, and Lee McConnell, whose 400m hurdles bronze vindicated her choice of event, can be proud of their own individual performances, as can Susan Scott who managed a personal best in the 800m.

Cyclist Chris Hoy's disappointment at his failure to defend his 1km time trial was assuaged by the six medals won by him and his team-mates, including a gold in the team sprint.

Ross Edgar, also part of that gold-medal winning team, became Scotland's most successful cyclist in a single Games with an additional silver in the sprint and bronze in the Keirin.

Alex Marshall and Paul Foster after their bowls gold-medal win

Sheena Sharp lived up to her name with a double gold in the shooting - one of those in partnership with Susan Jackson - while there was further Games success for Scotland in the bowls - Alex Marshall and Paul Foster winning the men's pairs.

Kenny Anderson won Scotland's 11th and final gold in Melbourne on Saturday with a gutsy win in boxing's light heavyweight division to typify the spirit of the Scottish team.

With Glasgow hoping to host the Games in eight years' time, the Scottish performance should breed further success in the interim period, with the Scottish Executive likely to invest more money to continue the improvements.

Another key factor will be the ability to hold on to people like Chris Martin, the national swimming coach, who could be tempted elsewhere.