As the jockeying for votes reached fever pitch, Coates' right-hand man, AOC media director Mike Tancred, stood down pending an outcome into bullying allegations against him by former AOC chief executive Fiona de Jong.

De Jong, who left the AOC last December, emerged as a central figure in the campaign by going public with her Tancred claim.

She also outlined a dozen other alleged bullying incidents within the AOC since 2004, and an email chain which damaged Coates for using the term "sheltered workshop".

Coates has since savaged de Jong's performance as chief executive and described Roche as a puppet of the Australian Sports Commission, with whom he has a long- running feud.

Roche, who denies the commission is pulling her presidency strings, said the unsavoury tones were unfortunate.

"The sooner we get back to the focus on athletes rather than administrators, the better," she said.

"However this has been a democratic process. We haven't had an election in 30 years. And both candidates have come under scrutiny."