Giants coach Leon Cameron said throughout the week that the winner of the GWS-Western Bulldogs preliminary final would head into next weekend's decider as the AFL's fairytale story, while the loser would be tarnished with the brush of missed opportunity.

Cameron's side fell into the latter category after suffering a heartbreaking six-point loss to the Western Bulldogs in Saturday's preliminary final at Spotless Stadium, their rapid rise this year coming to a shuddering halt after a pulsating final chapter of GWS's season.

It had been billed as potentially the game of the year between the competition's two hardest-running sides, and it proved to be arguably the best we've seen in 2016. Not until the dying stages did the Sydney Swans know who they would be playing in the grand final.

After six lead changes in an absorbing contest, scores drew level with just over three minutes on the clock before Jack McRae delivered the dagger that pierced GWS hearts.

He marked and goaled from 25 metres, right in front, thrusting the Bulldogs into the lead for the final time and that buffer was never again breached.

Clay Smith and Tory Dickson were superb throughout, slotting four majors apiece, while Jonathon Patton tried his heart out up the other end, kicking four of his own in the absence of suspended veteran Steve Johnson.

But it wasn't to be for the Giants, and the Bulldogs now advance to their first AFL grand final in 55 years, looking to add to the rusty 1954 premiership that sits all alone in the Footscray trophy cabinet.

This game was played amid a sporting backdrop never before seen in western Sydney.

An AFL preliminary final at a heaving Spotless Stadium, the Olympic precinct swamped by a sea of red, white and blue, and orange and charcoal as fans of both clubs came together at the station and made the pilgrimage to the ground.

GWS supporters took over Olympic Boulevard after a pre-match function with a throng of Giants fans walking the one-and-a-half kilometres from club headquarters to the ground.

Loyalties inside the stadium were fairly even, the Bulldogs fans perhaps outnumbering their GWS counterparts in the biggest AFL crowd at the venue, 21,790 fans having piled in.

And there was plenty of noise from the travelling fans, particularly when ex-Bulldogs Ryan Griffen and Callan Ward touched the ball. Giants fans played their part too on the biggest occasion yet for this young club, but it took 22 minutes for something significant to cheer about.

Devon Smith's goal gave GWS a much-needed foothold in the contest after the Bulldogs dominated most of the opening term.

But for all their forward pressure and inside 50 entries, only Smith and Dickson forced the scoreboard attendants to make any meaningful changes.

Dickson's goal was particularly impressive, after an unfortunate case of butterfingers while bringing the ball to ground cost him a contested mark he looked to have taken against two Giants opponents. It didn't matter - Dickson jumped to his feet first, cleaned up the ball and banged it through.

The warning signs were ominous until Smith's goal for GWS was followed by a superb 45-metre set shot by Patton, bringing the margin back to just a point.

The week off hurt Geelong on Friday night against the Swans and it looked to be doing the Giants no favours either as they were outworked across the ground for most of that opening term.

In the second quarter, the game exploded with four lead changes as Bulldog Smith helped himself to three more, proving particularly damaging at forward half stoppages.

And it was brutal in between the goals, too.

Jordan Roughead was concussed and suffered what seemed to be an eye injury when he wore the full force of a football kicked into his head at close range.

Then Giants co-captain Callan Ward had to be helped from the field after copping an accidental knee to the jaw in a contest with Bulldog Zaine Cordy.

As the pack cleared, Ward's body lay motionless on the Spotless Stadium turf and a team of trainers took several minutes to get him to his feet. Even then he only managed to wobble off the ground and down into the rooms.

GWS played a man down for 10 seconds with umpires restarting play while Ward was still being assisted from the field.

Two goals to Toby Greene in the second quarter helped keep the Giants close, the 22-year-old trying desperately to step up in the absence of Johnson.

The veteran was missed against a tall Bulldogs backline that had no problem nullifying the biggest GWS threat in Jeremy Cameron, who was harassed continuously following his four-goal blitz against the Swans two weeks ago. Joel Hamling spent most the night on the rangy Giants forward, and kept him goalless in a crucial defensive display.

GWS seemed to take control of the game in the third quarter, kicking three straight goals, the pick a looping kick by Heath Shaw from outside 50. Rhys Palmer had marked just outside his range, and gave it off to the backman who was playing another influential game for the Giants.

A lull descended at this point as the Bulldogs looked to have run out of steam, having played such a high-octane brand of football for two and a half quarters.

But Cordy injected himself to snap a goal and Caleb Daniel landed another one late to reduce the margin to just a point at the last change.

Tom Scully looked to have kicked a goal moments before Daniel struck, but it was overturned by a score review, adjudged to have been touched off the boot.

The final term was the most frantic of the lot with both sides exhausted as the grand final carrot dangled tantalisingly close.

And it was the Bulldogs, having lost seven-straight preliminary finals prior to this game, who prevailed.