The 23-year-old from Booral, near Stroud, achieved his goal and won gold in the event for elite athletes with a disability before a crowd of 82,000 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday evening.

Moments after crossing the line he said, "It was much more hard fought than I thought I was going to have to work, and a bit slower, but we got there."

So close was the race that it took several seconds for the reality to sink in.

"When I crossed the line I still wasn't totally sure I'd won," Francis said.

"I had to work hard the whole way. It was funny, like I have been doing 200s really easy all season and just the pressure of the final and so many false starts, and non-starts as well, just got the better of me.

"I think I tightened up a little bit and had to work very hard that last 50."

Francis had qualified second fastest for the event with a time of 22.80 seconds in his heat, but Nigerian Godwin Mbakara went into the race as favourite after qualifying in 22.76 seconds.

Starting out of lane five, Francis had Mbakara on his outside in what was shaping up as a gold medal match race.

Moments after the starter's gun the former Bulahdelah Central School student was quickly into his stride and settled into fourth place, mirroring his staggered starting position, with the runners on his outside in the field of eight leading the way.

By midway around the bend Francis had edged just ahead of Mbakara to take the lead with fellow Australian Timothy Matthews third.

Coming down the straight it was another Nigerian, Vitalis Lanshima, two lanes to Francis' left who emerged as the main threat.

Slowly but surely Lanshima pulled away from Francis and was about two metres ahead as the finish line loomed.

However, with the Australian crowd shouting themselves hoarse in support, a determined Francis dug deep and with a dipping lunge at the line, secured the win in a time of 22.96 seconds. Hot on his heels was South African David Roos (23.12sec) while Lanshima was four one-hundredths of a second further back. Timothy Matthews finished sixth.