Sydney Contemporary closed on Sunday with record sales for an Australian art fair, generating over $14 million across five days. It blitzed fair organiser Tim Etchells' hopes of a $10 million turnover, and also passed the high point set in 2008, before the global financial downturn shook the local contemporary art market, when the Melbourne Art Fair delivered $12.1 million in sales.

There were early signs of a pick-up. During the VIP viewing, before the fair officially opened, a series of five monumental new paintings by Ben Quilty sold for healthy prices at the stand of Brisbane's Jan Murphy Gallery. But as the fair progressed, it became clear that most of the action was happening below the $50,000 mark.