Nothing other than a win over Canberra Capitals will suffice for the Spirit if they hope to keep their WNBL finals dream alive.

Lose and it's curtains for WNBL season 2016-17 ahead of next weekend's final round of matches.

Should the Spirit fail to qualify for post-season action, it would be the first time in the club's 10-year history that it has missed finals in consecutive years.

After a gut-wrenching loss to reigning champions Townsville last weekend, Spirit star Kelsey Griffin said it was now "all or nothing" for the team.

"By no stretch of the imagination did we think this second half of the season was going to be easy, so it's do-or-die," she said.

The two-time WNBL All-Star and championship player has faced several must-win scenarios during her five years with the Spirit.

One thing Griffin knows for certain is that she and her teammates won't die wondering in their bid to play finals.

"You have to find the positives in things, but the ability to come back to make it a two-point game from 25 points down against Townsville was not an easy thing," she said.

"That shows the heart and desire this team has. It's never a lack of effort with this team, which is why I love playing here so much.

"If we can just turn that over to great execution and really hard pressure defence, I think we will be in it.

"The thing that has been so frustrating about this season is we know that we are a great team, we just need to put it together for four quarters and we haven't been able to do that yet.

"Even our game in Perth, where we surprised them and gave them their first home defeat, we still didn't put four quarters together.

"When we are able to do that - and I know we will eventually -it will be fantastic and I'm really looking forward to that day."

The Spirit will make-do without injured point guard Kerryn Harrington for the trip to the nation’s capital.

They will also need to contend with a Canberra team that has not given up on its own finals chances and defeated the Spirit 77-63 at home as recently as three weeks ago.

The Capitals expect to be further motivated by a huge home crowd at Southern Cross Stadium as the club celebrates its 30th anniversary in the WNBL. 

Coach Simon Pritchard said the Spirit would take nine players to Canberra and despite the loss of Harrington would be fully prepared for the challenge ahead.

"Training on Tuesday night was really good, our defence was good, which is what we'll need, and both our individual sessions were good," he said.

"Things are on the up - we were pretty happy with our second half last week.

"If we carry that form into the first two quarters against Canberra and the game could be over at half time.

(But) they are in an identical spot to us, whoever loses is done for the season.

"We're expecting a very willing game."

The game has been switched to noon Sunday, with Saturday's temperature tipped to reach 41 degrees.