Melbourne Phoenix qualified for its fourth straight Commonwealth Bank trophy grand final after vanquishing minor premier and defending champion Sydney Swifts 49-47 in the major semi-final at Wollongong Entertainment Centre.

Phoenix scored the last two goals of the game to break a 47-47 tie and secure home advantage for the grand final which will be played at Vodafone Arena in Melbourne on September 3.

Swifts, who led 12-10 and 26-23 at the first two breaks, equalled their worst ever losing streak of three and will host the preliminary final at Sydney SuperDome next Thursday against Adelaide Thunderbirds, which thumped Melbourne Kestrels 68-45 in the minor semi-final in Adelaide.

Phoenix trailed by seven halfway through the second quarter, but fought back to hit the front in the third term which finished level at 37-37.

Scores were tied on six occasions in a thrilling final quarter before Phoenix capitalised on a crucial last minute turnover and netted the final two goals.

Playing in Wollongong, because the Swifts two regular venues were unavailable, the two grand finalists from the last two years slugged out a tough close game witnessed by just over 2,500 spectators, including Australian coach Norma Plummer and fellow national selector Carol Sykes.

The ultra-reliable Phoenix shooting duo of Eloise Southby-Halbish (25 goals at 89 per cent) and Sharelle McMahon (24 at 80 per cent) shot at a combined 84 per cent as Melbourne prevailed despite putting up five fewer shots.

Sydney's shooters combined for a 75 per cent success rate, with Catherine Cox bagging 34 goals at 77 per cent and Megan Anderson 13 at 68 per cent.

"We knew that it was going to be tough and come down to the wire and they weren't going to give up and we just had to hang tough on our game plan and that's what we did," Southby-Halbish said.

"At three quarter time I said to the girls `look into each others eyes' and we've got such a close knit group and I said `do it for each other and grit your teeth'."

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