[3] With 275 sets of medals, the games featured 18 Commonwealth sports, including beach volleyball, para triathlon and women's rugby sevens.

[5] The host city Gold Coast was announced at the CGF General Assembly in Basseterre, Saint Kitts, on 11 November 2011.

[10][11] On 22 August 2008, the Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh, officially launched Gold Coast City's bid to host the Commonwealth Games in 2018.

On 7 April 2009, the ABC reported a land exchange deal between Gold Coast City and State of Queensland for Carrara Stadium.

[12] On 16 April 2009, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told reporters that a successful Commonwealth Games bid by Gold Coast City could help the tourist strip win a role in hosting the World Cup.

On 3 June 2009, Gold Coast City was confirmed as Australia's exclusive bidder vying for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

On 15 March 2010, it was announced that the Queensland Government will provide initial funding of A$11 million for the 2018 Commonwealth Games bid.

The Australian and Queensland Governments and the City of Gold Coast invested A$320 million to deliver new and upgraded venues.

The seating capacity of the stadium was temporarily increased to 40,000 for the games by the installation of a large temporary North Stand.

[30] The new Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre hosted the Badminton, Para Powerlifting, Weightlifting and Wrestling events.

The clocks were shaped as a surfboard and were located at the beach end of Cavill Avenue in Surfers Paradise and in South Bank Parklands in Brisbane.

[60] The Queen's baton of the 2018 Commonwealth Games had a distinctive loop design and was made of macadamia wood and recycled plastic sourced from Gold Coast waterways.

[65] The Queen's baton relay was launched on Commonwealth Day, 13 March 2017, on the historic forecourt at Buckingham Palace in London, signalling the official countdown to the start of the Games.

Covering 230,000 km over 388 days, the baton made its way through the six Commonwealth regions of Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and Oceania.

[73] Furthermore, Cockatoo-Collins mentioned, "the medal design represents soft sand lines which shift with every tide and wave, also symbolic of athletic achievement, The continual change of tide represents the evolution in athletes who are making their mark, Records are made and special moments of elation are celebrated".

[76] During the Games period, free public transportation within Queensland region was provided to ticket and accreditation holders.

An extension to the system was announced in October 2015, connecting the then current terminus at Gold Coast University Hospital to the railway line to Brisbane at Helensvale.

[78] Four temporary Games lanes were introduced along the M1 and activated at different times to decrease traffic disruptions for road users.

[81] The Australian Defence Force (ADF) assisted Gold Coast authorities in ensuring the security of the Games and deployed over 1,000 personnel to help with the effort.

[86] The Festival 2018 was a 12-day multi-arts program for the 2018 Commonwealth Games which included free musical performances, activities, public art and other family-friendly events.

[87] The program took place at Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach on the Gold Coast, Cultural Forecourt, South Bank in Brisbane, Lagoon Precinct in Cairns and Jezzine Barracks, Strand Park and Queens Gardens in Townsville.

[98] The closing ceremony was held at Carrara Stadium on Sunday 15 April 2018 and was produced by Jack Morton Worldwide at a cost of A$30 million.

Australian pop stars Guy Sebastian, Samantha Jade, Dami Im, Ricki Lee and The Veronicas were among the performers.

Integrated disabled competitions were also scheduled for the Games in six sports: swimming, athletics, cycling, table tennis, powerlifting and lawn bowls.

[103] The program was broadly similar to that of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, with the major changes being the dropping of judo, the reintroduction of basketball, the debut of women's rugby sevens and beach volleyball.

[113] The New Zealand government funded Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited (PCBL) broadcast the event on Pasifika TV in the Oceanian countries such as Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, Kiribati and Tuvalu.

[127] The official partners of the games were The Star Gold Coast, Griffith University, TAFE Queensland, Longines, Optus, Atos and Woolworths Supermarkets.

[138] A month after the games ended, officials estimated that 50 athletes had remained in Australia illegally, with another 200 staying in the country on visas.

[141] The official documents also found that 17 "unlawful non-citizens" who took part in the Commonwealth Games were still in Australia, 14 of which were from Ghana and Rwanda.

This caused an uproar on social media as, contrary to public expectations, none of the athletes were shown entering the stadium during the ceremony.