Lake Wendouree was leading the Lions by 13 points – 8.17 (65) to 7.10 (52) – when the lights went out at the ground with three minutes, one second left to play.

This made for an embarrassing end to the first senior football match under the new lights at City Oval, which is the latest City of Ballarat venue to be given a full makeover.

Redan president Damian Linton told The Courier he raised his concerns about using a generator for the lights, which ultimately failed on Saturday night.

“(The BFL) were assured by council, I think, that the game was going ahead as scheduled and that there will be a generator in place, but they’re happy that everything will work fine,” Linton said.

Linton said it was a disappointing outcome for such a big occasion.

“It was a great spectacle early in the day and then the evening, but to end like it did was very disappointing,” he said.

City of Ballarat Director of Community Development Neville Ivey said technicians were undertaking an investigation into what caused the generator fault.

“The City of Ballarat have successfully used generators on other projects such as the Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility, which operated on a generator for approximately four months before being switched over to mains power,” Ivey said.

“The lighting was operated via a generator due to hold ups from the power supply company. Proceeding with a generator was an operational decision and deemed not to pose any additional risk than what would have otherwise existed with the lighting operating off the mains supply."

Ivey said the lights and generator were tested on Wednesday and Friday nights last week and the Ballarat Football League was notified that a generator would be used for the Redan versus Lake Wendouree fixture.

“This week, technicians will attempt to set up with the mains power and we will know by Thursday whether City Oval will be connected with the mains power,” he said.

Redan is scheduled to host East Point in another night match at City Oval this Saturday, but the BFL has confirmed it will revert to a day fixture if mains power is not switched on.

In a statement released by the league on Monday afternoon, it was confirmed that Lake Wendouree had been awarded the victory and four points following the abandoned game.

The BFL used the AFL Laws of the Game to reach the decision.

The key rule states that if a match has reached half time and is then unable to recommence within a 30-minute period of an interruption, the scores at the time the game stopped will be deemed final.

Ballarat Football Netball League Operations Manager Shane Anwyl said there had been constant communication with both clubs since the lights went out.

“(We’ve) been up front about what happens in situations where a game is officially called off. We understand there will be many people upset and frustrated by what took place and the league will be working with council to ensure this situation does not occur again,” Anwyl said.