Both teams were vying for a top-two finish which would guarantee a second-chance in the finals, and it was the visitors who prevailed in a see-sawing final quarter before 11,871 fans at the Qudos Bank Arena – the biggest Super Netball crowd of the season.

With five minutes on the clock the Giants looked to be heading for victory before Sunshine Coast coach Noeline Taurua called a tactical time out.

Star Lightning shooter Caitlin Bassett then strung together seven-straight goals to haul her team over the line.

"It shows how quickly you can lose a match," Giants coach Julie Fitzgerald said.

"It was in our hands, they had a timeout, I think it was seven in a row after the timeout. You've got to keep playing until the end and they were silly mistakes that cost us.

"Silly passes, dropped balls, you can't afford to do that in a pressure match like that. Up until then I think it was just such an epic game and then we just lost it.

"You want that consistency over 60 minutes and we really struggled to get that in some ways. Again we've lost a first quarter and until we can address that, we're making it very hard for ourselves."

Substitute shooter Kristina Brice looked to have steered the Giants to a memorable win over the star-studded Lightning, scoring 22 from 25 after being introduced in the third quarter.

She was a strong physical presence in the goal circle, as stand-in captain Jo Harten was pushed back to goal attack and Susan Pettitt moved to wing attack.

The Giants had started strongly in the first quarter, but Sunshine Coast bounced back strongly after the first break and forged ahead by four points before Brice hit the court.

A win would've meant squaring off against Melbourne Vixens next weekend in a grand final qualifier, but now they must face the treacherous sudden-death path against the talent-rich Magpies.

The winner of that game will play the loser of Melbourne and Sunshine Coast in two weeks and Taurua said her Lightning side was starting to peak at the right time.

"It was tough. I know how much both teams will get out of this game heading into the finals," Taurua said.

"It was definitely a see-sawing game and in those last five minutes it could have gone either way. We're lucky that we came out on top and got the two points out of that which means we've got a guaranteed life heading into the finals.

"What we were trying to do was take the ball on, get them on our back and get the penalties, I thought we did that quite well.

"They probably did the opposite, just staying off the circle so that we were isolated from each other. It could have gone either way, that's how close it was.

"We seem to come out really well out of time outs, especially the last five minutes. I think they baulked a little bit with the ball and probably became quite hesitant. That played into our hands."

The Swifts' season, meanwhile, petered out with a 19-point loss to a rampaging Queensland Firebirds.

It was Queensland's second-straight win in Sydney after they downed the Giants last weekend, but it was all a little too late for last season's ANZ Championship premiers who finished in fifth position, one ahead of the Swifts.