Bronte Barratt, Melanie Schlanger, Kylie Palmer and Alicia Coutts led for much of the race but the Americans’ 200m individual freestyle champion Allison Schmitt was too strong over the final leg and Coutts was not able to match her.
It was Australia’s sixth silver medal, to go with one gold and two bronze at the London Games, after James Magnussen was pipped in the final of the 100m freestyle earlier this morning.
Coutts has now won four medals at London - one gold, two silvers and a bronze.
She can equal the Australian Olympic record of five medals at a single Olympics in the medley relay on the final night.
Stephanie Rice was left sitting on the pool deck after missing selection. That means her swimming career is almost certainly over, with officials deeming she was not in good enough form to make the line-up which was defending the gold medal won in Beijing in 2008. Rice was part of the Beijing team.
EARLIER, Melanie Schlanger continued her magnificent form at the London Olympics, qualifying second fastest for tomorrow morning’s 100m freestyle final.
Schlanger won her semi-final in a slick 53.38sec but the fastest qualifier was the winner of the second semi-final, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, of the Netherlands, who looks to have the final at her mercy after blowing the field away, winning in 53.05sec over Missy Franklin, of the United States.
Schlanger put her superb form down to getting her taper right.
“I am very happy with it," said Schlanger, who anchored Australia’s heroic gold medal-winning 4x100m freestyle relay team on night one of competition.
“I got it a bit wrong at trials and came to the conclusion I lost a bit of strength."
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