The AFL finals race is over and the top eight settled - with one round still remaining - after St Kilda's win over Adelaide at Telstra Dome on Sunday.

But there is still plenty to play for next week for five of the eight finalists with positions four to eight still up for grabs in the last round of the season.

The Saints' win on Sunday - on the day Robert Harvey played his 379th game to go third on the AFL's all-time games played list behind Michael Tuck (426) and Kevin Bartlett (403) - ended the slim finals chances of Richmond, Brisbane and Carlton.

All three clubs were relying on the Saints to lose to the Crows to keep their finals hopes alive going into the last round of the season.

But the Saints' win - following on from Collingwood's win over Sydney on Saturday night - means those two clubs, along with the Crows, now hold a one-and-a-half game break over ninth-placed Richmond, with the Lions and the Blues a further half a game back.

And although the Tigers - who now look set to finish ninth for the sixth time in the past 15 seasons having played in September just twice since 1982 - are just one game behind eighth-placed Sydney, they cannot catch the Swans on percentage even though the Tigers play bottom club Melbourne in the final round next week.

That means the eight finalists this year will be Geelong, Hawthorn, the Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Collingwood and St Kilda.

But only Geelong, Hawthorn and the Bulldogs know their fates ahead of the last round - with all three certain to finish in the top four and have the double chance in the finals.

The remaining five clubs can finish anywhere from fourth to eighth but the Kangaroos are in pole position to grab fourth spot and the double chance - given they only have to defeat 13th-placed Port Adelaide at the MCG next week to ensure they finish in the top four for the second successive season.

The other four clubs will be jockeying for finishing positions five to eight, which carry plenty of significance given the teams that finish fifth and sixth will enjoy home advantage in the first week of the finals - which could prove a huge advantage given there are two Victorian teams (Collingwood and St Kilda) plus two non-Victorian teams (Adelaide and Sydney) likely to finish in the bottom half of the eight and be involved in knockout finals in the first week of September.