It was not just the victory for Michael Shelley in the marathon. It was the very imperiousness of it, the daring. The boldness. It was marathon running seldom seen from non-African runners.

"He came here on a mission and he has delivered," said Moneghetti, the Australian team's chef de mission.

"He took it to them (the African runners) and we don't see that do we? We talk about the Africans and he has dropped and destroyed the Ugandans, the Tanzanians, the Kenyans behind, and he has run that race like he was the best runner and dominated it with real front running, with conviction like he was the best runner there, like he was the boss - and he was.

"Shelley ran like he was the best runner in that race, he ran a PB at the Commonwealth Games after a silver in Delhi, that is outstanding. Credit to him, credit to Jess, credit to Dick Telford (their coach), credit to Australian distance running."

Moneghetti could not contain himself on what was one of the finest days for Australian runners, as Jess Trengove, inspired by word filtering from the crowd of Shelley's victory, claimed bronze in the women's marathon.

Earlier Moneghetti had run from his own press conference to be there to watch. He had run across the city, across the course and caught a glimpse of Shelley with the leaders. He ran over the bridge to seek out Shelley with a couple of kilometres to go to let him know victory was his.

"Seeing Monas out on the course right towards the end was pretty special," Shelley said after he won in a personal best time of 2 hours 11.15 minutes.

"He was yelling out and I was just trying to dig deep and I was hoping I wouldn't blow up like I had in the past and I was fortunate enough not to blow up so it was good."

Shelley said had sensed he had a chance to win at the 36-kilometre mark when he hit a drink station and did not break stride while others lost a step.

Still the African runners surrounded him. He had stayed in touch with the leaders, along with Australian Liam Adams, throughout the first three-quarters of the race, despite a surge that threatened to drop him. He patiently ran his race and kept his own rhythm and gathered in the lead.

Even after victory he admitted he remained intimidated by the Kenyan and Ugandan runners, which only made his bold decision to accelerate with five kilometres to go that much braver.

On his shoulder he had two African runners one of whom, Stephen Chemlany, had run a marathon in 2 hours six minutes. He was not going to go away if they continued stride for stride so Shelley had to take a chance, not knowing if his legs would last.

"It was difficult because I have been blowing up the last couple of marathons I've done at 35kms, so I was a little bit hesitant to push on. I was hopeful that it would pay off, the training I have done and continue on strong," he said.

"I am intimidated by them all the time... I was just very fortunate that I had a great day and the instructions Dick gave me and the training that I have done in the lead-up has paid off."

With a kilometre to go, victory was his as long as he kept his legs rolling over.

"I still had head-down bum-up, I don't think about it too much because anything can happen, there were still a little bit of things going on with the legs – I just thought keep going, keep digging.

"Monas yelled out with 1km to go - you're 100m... just keep focused, keep focused."

He did and as he drew closer the gold medal also drew into focus.

Shelley joined Moneghetti, Rob De Castella and Dave Power as Australians to have won the marathon Commonwealth gold.

"They are the legends of marathon running in Australia, it's hard to describe. I'm just very excited to win the Commonwealth Games like they have, I have looked up to them through running and been able to talk to them throughout the years as to how I should go about things, give me tips and that sort of thing. It is an honour, a real honour to be Commonwealth gold medallist," Shelley said.