It was one v two in a battle to finish top and secure the title when Central Coast Mariners hosted intrastate rivals Sydney FC, with both teams starting the match at a sprint.

Central Coast almost went one up within five minutes when Jenna Kingsley delivered an apparently innocuous ball that Sydney goalkeeper Nikola Deiter could only tip up into the crossbar and-heartstoppingly-very nearly in.

Then it was Sydney's turn, when captain Heather Garriock laid the ball up for a ghosting in Sarah Walsh, who was denied only by goalkeeper Jillian Loyden's desperate diving smother.

But it was last season's golden boot Leena Khamis' 35-minute that strike proved the difference, when she beat her defenders and Loyden, who had come off her line to help, could only slow, but not stop, Khamis' on-target shot.

Walsh almost made it 2-0 just two minutes later, with only Loyden's left handed-parry saving Central Coast's blushes.

From there the momentum was all Sydney's as they pressed for a second goal. Having successfully contained  Central Coast's (and the league's) main goalscorer Michelle Heyman, they didn't actually need one. Instead, the Central Coast players picked up a succession of yellow cards as their frustration at slipping to second started to show.

Three minutes of injury time saw both teams issuing last ditch goalscoring efforts, but Sydney held onto the one goal to snatch the Premiership and a home semi final on Saturday.

Slightly further north, but still in New South Wales, Roar Women finished their season and rebuilt some confidence with a clinical 6-0 win over last-placed Newcastle Jets.

Captain Clare Polkinghorne led by example early, tapping in a corner just two minutes in, before Jo Burgess set up Tameka Butt for the next two, almost identical, goals. Butt scored again in the 66th to post a hat trick and give the Roar a comfortable 4-0 lead, before Burgess and Lana Harch gave Roar their fifth and sixth goals, respectively, to consolidate the win over the winless Newcastle.

A Canberra win and a Melbourne loss would see Canberra sneak into the finals, so Canberra entered their match against Adelaide with a clear focus.

Early chances by young guns Ashleigh Sykes and Ellyse Perry could have given Canberra the lead, but it took them until almost half time to score, when Ellie Brush headed in a perfectly placed Ellyse Perry cross.

Canberra continued to press for a second goal, aware that Adelaide could claw one back. They managed two, with Emily Van Egmond burying the ball in the back of the net in the 88th and Ellyse Perry following it with a goal just three minutes later.

Canberra then faced a nail biting few hours' wait to hear the outcome of the Perth-Melbourne match.

Melbourne dominated Glory for the majority of the match in energy-sapping heat in Perth. They created chances and peppered the goal with shots, but couldn't find a match-winning goal to break the scoreless deadlock.

Perth too, were having trouble finding the back of the net, with their fewer chances going equally awry, but their match turned around with the introduction of Matildas striker Lisa De Vanna in the 64th minute.

De Vanna and fellow striker Samantha Kerr picked apart the Melbourne defence, with both within reason to appeal for penalties in the 78th after some overzealous Melbourne defending in the box.

No penalties were awarded, but De Vanna broke the deadlock just three minutes later, when she seized on a through ball from Katie Gill, beat her defenders, and slotted the ball past Matildas team mate and Melbourne goalkeeper Melissa Barbieri.

An increasingly desperate and flagging Melbourne tried to find an equaliser, but it was instead Perth who found the back of the net when Gill buried a long-range half volley from 25 metres out in the 87th.

The result means that Melbourne miss out on the top four, Canberra sneak into it, and Sydney will meet Canberra and Central Coast will battle Roar Women in the semi finals.