Ballarat artist Josh Muir, a Gunditjmara and Yorta Yorta man, had his art feature in what the Victorian government has billed as an "electrifying fusion" of First People's culture and contemporary performance in the Birmingham Closing Ceremony on Tuesday morning, Ballarat time.

Muir's popular street art was beamed into Alexander Stadium in digital animation with the work of Gippsland artists Eileen Harrison and Ronald Edwards Pepper to celebrate regional Victoria. Muir, who died earlier this year, was known for his passion for promoting reconciliation.

Ballarat's Macaylah Johnson, a Wadawurrung woman, was among a group of Indigenous dancers from regional Victoria to perform in the ceremony.

Johnson has been part of a regional First Nations delegation at the Games the past fortnight.

For the first time, the Commonwealth Games baton was handed to First Nations elders representing the next Games' host regions. This contingent included elders from Bendigo, Geelong, Bairnsdale and Ballarat regions, including Aunty Joy Oldaker to help lead the Games to Wadawurrung Country.

Victoria 2026's chief executive Jeroen Weimar remains confident a new regional Commonwealth Games model would be a success.

This is despite World Athletics chairman Sebastian Coe questioning the appropriateness of putting the Games' showpiece, the track and field program, an hour and a half away from Melbourne in Ballarat's Mars Stadium.

Mars will be expanded to a 30,000-seat capacity, including 10,000 seats, but Coe told News Limited Birmingham's 37,000-seat Alexander Stadium was better connected to public transport and hotel accommodation.

Coe did not lobby for athletics to return to the MCG but warned organisers need a solid plan to ensure full houses and good access to the stadium, particularly with media and officials likely to stake the bulk of accommodation.

Weimar, in Birmingham on Sunday, said each hub would have well-organised transport and scheduling that encouraged spectators to spend the day in one place instead of taking lengthy road trips.

For example, athletics and boxing in Ballarat will both be at the same Eureka sporting complex at Mars and Selkirk stadiums.

"We will absolutely concentrate on making the hubs work and that's why the hub model for us is really important," Weimar told reporters.

"We will be actively putting a transport solution in place that ensures that people will go to Geelong for the day and will be able to see five or six or seven world-class sports within Geelong.

"We're not realistically going to be encouraging spectators to say 'I'm going to do a morning of Rugby Sevens then an afternoon of swimming' - that will be a very logistically challenging thing for the public to do."

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The MCG, which will host the opening ceremony, was used to great success for athletics in Melbourne in 2006 but Weimar said upgrading and filling the smaller Ballarat ground was a more appealing option.

"Alexander Stadium (in Birmingham) last night was absolutely pumping because it's a 30,000 capacity stadium which is completely rammed full. That's what creates the atmosphere," Weimar said.

"We've all known that when you sit in a 100,000 seater stadium and it's got 30,000 people, it feels deathly.

"So we would much rather have venues that are packed full of people that are energised, that are focused and I think that's why the regional games work really well."

Weimar said organisers were having ongoing conversations with AFL and Formula One about their calendars but stressed they would not move the Games dates.

There are 16 sports, including six para sports, locked in for Victoria and Weimar anticipated "three or four more" would be added, with Games organisers keen to attract a younger audience.

Weimer said around 20 international sports federations had expressed interest but sports need to enter their submissions by August 19.

A location for the marathon is yet to be confirmed, even though the event is part of the athletics program.

Track cycling was among sports yet to be included in the program but Weimar said there had been conversations with cycling's international governing body, the UCI.

Weimar also did not rule out esports, with his team attending the Commonwealth Esports Championships in Birmingham on the weekend.

The Games will be held from March 17-29 across Geelong, Ballarat, Gippsland and Bendigo.

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