Callum Scotson and Cameron Meyer held off an almighty late attack from Mark Cavendish and Peter Kennaugh to upgrade their third place from last year to the overall Six Day London win in 2017.

The Australians came into the final day leading by two laps, but were quickly deposed after they suffered an early exit in the elimination race.

And they lost out on further points with last place in the 250m Madison time trial, leaving them just a lap ahead of the field heading into the final hour-long Madison Chase.

The overall lead changed hands seven times in the opening 40 minutes of the race, but things settled down with the Aussies having regained the top spot with 20 minutes to go.

That was until Cavendish and Kennaugh launched an audacious attack with around 20 laps to go in a last-ditch attempt to steal the title.

Their gap stretched out to 100m with just five laps to go, but they were unable to make the juncture and Meyer and Scotson held on for the win - with the Brits in second and two-time defending champions Kenny de Ketele and Moreno de Pauw settling for third.

“I’ve achieved some good things, some rainbow bands but this is an honourable event to put on the palmares,” said eight-time world champion Meyer.

“I’m loving my track cycling again, I’ve got some big targets over the next three years and I’m sure I’ll meet these guys again.

“Possibly at an Olympic Games now that the Madison is back in, so it’s going to be big three years and I can’t wait for what’s ahead.”

With Scotson adding: “We knew coming up against such big stars, they were always going to throw it at us all the way up to the line.

“We were prepared for that, we just had to fight and fight. Every time they got a lap back on us in that final Madison we had to go again no matter how tired we were, but it paid off in the end.

“The last attack from Cavendish and Kennaugh definitely added a few nerves, when Cav takes off he’s one of the fastest in the world.

“He opened up that gap real quick, we had to try and stay calm. We knew we had them on the back foot and we couldn’t give them too much road, eventually we had the legs to hold on and it feels so good to win a Six Day London.”

Earlier in the night, Brits Chris Latham and Steven Burke won a hat-trick of races as the latter beat Cavendish in the final sprint to the line of the elimination race.

He then laid the groundwork for Latham to mount a late attack in the derny B final and take the race ahead of Theo Reinhardt and Kersten Thiele.

And the hat-trick was complete when their time of 12.819s for the 250m Madison TT was not beaten on the final night.

But it was their fellow Brits Kennaugh and Cavendish that got the biggest cheer from the crowd as they tried in vain to gain the lap they needed for the win.

Despite their failure to do so a second successive second place for Cavendish - after finishing as runner up with Sir Bradley Wiggins last year - was not seen as a disappointment.

“We just had to put all our chips on the table, we tried to get it back and kept getting it back but every time we went they just had us,” said the 30-time Tour de France stage winner.

“I said to Pete as soon as the lap board came down, let’s put all our chips in the centre after 20 laps and go for broke.

“We just weren’t good enough, simple as, but I’m incredibly proud because I used to babysit for this lad.

“Now we’re riding at the London Olympic velodrome and he won here in 2012, we’re riding against the best track riders in the world and it’s just been amazing.”

Six Day London was Kennaugh’s first professional Six Day event, and despite suffering through the opening two days, he came out smiling at the end.

“If I look back to the first day, I was so nervous sat in the cabin and hardly even saying a word,” said the Team Sky rider.

“I was shaking with nerves and they were a really tough two days but I’ve finally got my track legs back these last two days.

“I really started to enjoy it, but that last chase was something else. I was on the limit, just holding the wheel, and I looked up and there were 50 minutes to go.

“What a great event, what a great race and what great competition.”

Cavendish and Kennaugh ended the event a lap down on the Aussies but with 94 more points to their name, while de Ketele and de Pauw were just 38 points down on the Manxmen.

And with de Ketele having suffered a fracture hip last month, he was at peace with not making it a hat-trick of Six Day London wins.

“I’m happy to be on the podium, we gave it our all and we tried to take advantage of the rivalry between the other two couples a bit,” said the former Madison world champion.

“It worked out for the first half of the race but in the end we didn’t have the legs to take another lap.

“I’m happy with what we achieved — every victory story has to end somewhere.”