Townsville Fire's defeat of Sydney in the last game of the WNBL regular season has eliminated the Flames from finals contention and confirmed the make-up of the top four.
The Fire's 90-78 win at home confirmed the reigning champions would finish first on the ladder and enter the finals series as the top seed for the second year running.
For their semi-final series, the Fire will face the Perth Lynx, who had been relying on the Flames losing to sneak into the play-offs.
The Lynx can thank a monster effort from veteran Mikaele Ruef for their finals berth.
Forward Ruef put up 22 points and nine rebounds to help her side lead for the majority of Sunday's game, though rarely by double digits.
Didi Richards had 23 points and six boards for the Flames in a losing effort but her side will now finish the season in fifth place after requiring a win to return to the post-season.
Intrastate rivals the Southside Flyers and Melbourne Boomers are clashing in the other semi-final series after finishing second and third, respectively.
The make-up of the top-four is identical to last season's, when the Fire swept Southside in the grand final series to lock up their fourth WNBL title.
The Flyers missed the chance to throw their own hat into the ring for first place with a surprise 74-60 loss to Adelaide Lightning on Saturday.
The seventh-placed Lightning finished their disappointing season on a high as Brianna Turner (20 points, 13 rebounds) bagged a double-double.
The Boomers booked their own spot after a hard-earned 75-74 defeat of the Canberra Capitals, who finish on the bottom of the ladder for a second-straight season.
The Caps turned a 10-point deficit into a one-point lead during the final five minutes to put the game back in their control late.
But Melbourne's Jordin Canada drew a foul charging through the paint with eight seconds to play and levelled the scores at 74-all by icing one of two free throw attempts.
Her side in the bonus, Capitals gun Jade Melbourne sent Canada to the line with another foul out of a timeout and American Canada sealed a 75-74 win.
Elsewhere, the Lynx overturned an early 18-2 deficit to cruise past Bendigo Spirit 93-74 on the road.
Perth's Aari McDonald put up 26 points, four rebounds and four assists in the defeat, which ruined the Spirit's chances of returning to the WNBL finals for the first time in nine years.
