Chris McHugh and WA’s Paul Burnett have come up trumps to win the beach volleyball gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, holding their nerves in a tense three-set final.

The Australian duo overcame Canadian pair Sam Schachter and Daniel Dearing to come from a set down in the gold medal match, prevailing 17-21 21-17 20-18.

The game went down to the wire as the two duos went point-for-point in an arm wrestle of a final set, with McHugh making a number of game-winning plays down the stretch to help guide the gold medal into Australian hands.

McHugh and Burnett had dropped just one set on their way to the final, but faced a stern test in the form of the Canadians, who started the match strongly.

They punished Australia early to shoot out to an early lead in the first set, before McHugh and Burnett began to eat into the deficit, although the Canadians were able to see off their challenge and ride out the rest of the first set.

It was a reversal of sorts in the second set as the Australians raced out to a strong start, only for Canada to fight back and keep their hopes of a straight sets victory alive.

Australia looked nervy at times as they looked to secure the second set, but calm heads prevailed as they held off a late Canada rally to force a deciding set.

Neither side were able to gain the upper hand in a see-sawing final set, as the two sides went point-for-point and the tension was palpable throughout the crowd.

McHugh made a series of important spikes with the game on the line, and his pressure at the net forced a series of errors from his counterpart Dearing.

With Australia needing a two-point buffer to win and having saved a couple of match points themselves, McHugh forced an errant Dearing smash at 19-18 as the ball just wide of the mark amid heavy pressure from McHugh, as the Australian captain wheeled away in delight before embracing Burnett.