“You have done us proud,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told Australia’s Paralympic team, as they arrived back in Sydney on Wednesday.

Albanese, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Governor-General and Paralympic patron-in-chief Sam Mostyn joined a gathering of friends, family and media to welcome many of the 161-strong Paris team in Sydney early on Wednesday.

“You have done us proud, you had some pretty special baggage to bring home, 18 gold, 17 silver and 28 bronze.” Albanese said.

“We’re proud as a nation of what you have achieved.”

Australia finished ninth on the medal table at the Paris Paralympics, 63 in total spread across nine sports, with six athletes winning two golds.

The swim team accounted for a bountiful haul of six gold and 27 medals overall, with Alexa Leary, Callum Simpson and Tim Hodge each winning two finals.

Simpson, 17, the youngest male member of the swim team, is one competitor young enough to not only target the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles, but also the games after that – to be held on home soil in Brisbane.

Athletics and cycling were other productive sports, with 11 medals won in each.

Lauren Parker’s victories in triathlon and cycling made her the first Australian Paralympian in the 21st century to win gold in two different sports.

-AAP