Matthew Cowdrey momentarily allowed the magnitude of his achievement to hit him.

The uber-professional swimmer struggled just for a moment to form his words after being asked about becoming the nation's most successful Paralympian.

The South Australian secured his 10th gold medal by delivering a storming anchor leg to lead Australia to victory in the 4x100m freestyle relay.

"I am blown away to be honest," he said.

"It has been an honour to be a part of the sport for the past ten years and it is slowly starting to sink in what I have been able to do," he said.

"But I don't want to think about that at the moment. I still have a long way to go in this meet."

That he does.

He still has four events to go, including his two pet races.

Cowdrey has also collected seven silver and two bronze medals during his career.

Compatriot Tim Sullivan has won ten gold medals but has no silver or bronze medals to his name.

"Out of all the ten golds, that has got to be up there with the sweetest," Cowdrey said.

"After going down in Athens (in the event), going down in Beijing, to .... get one at Paralympic level is fantastic for the team."

Cowdrey also matched Kingsley Bugarin's national record of 19 medals.

At the track, Kurt Fearnley took silver in an engrossing T54 5000m battle with Great Britain's David Weir just proving too strong at the death.

Weir's triumph was a sign the home side's campaign was kicking into gear as they claimed second spot on the medal table and pushed Australia to third.

Jacqueline Freney provided her coach and dad Michael with the best type of Father's Day present by collecting her third gold of the Games in the SM7 200m medley.

She set a new world record with her nearest rival finishing 10 seconds behind her while Kelly Cartwright earlier claimed her maiden Paralympic title in the F42/44 long jump.

Already one of the faces of the Australian team, Cartwright boosted her profile by producing a world record jump of 4.38m to win in front of a full house at the 80,000-capacity Olympic Stadium.

At Eton Dorney, Erik Horrie put an emotional week behind him to claim silver in the AS class single sculls.

He became a father for the third time on Wednesday and was hospitalised on Friday following a seizure.

"I've got a good excuse for missing the birth," he quipped.

Simon Patmore produced one of the most courageous performances of the day, clinging on for bronze despite pulling his hamstring halfway through the T46 200m.

"I felt my hammy go around the bend but there was no way I was going to let go and stop," he said.