Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and her predecessor, Daniel Andrews, overstated the blowout costs of the 2026 Commonwealth Games by more than $2 billion when they walked away from hosting the event, a damning auditor-general’s investigation has found.

Ultimately, taxpayers will pay more than $589 million for “no discernible benefit” from Labor’s bidding, planning and then cancelling the Games, auditor-general Andrew Greaves wrote in his report released on Wednesday.