A flurry of deals were completed in the last 15 minutes before the deadline on Wednesday night.
After a staring match, Essendon blinked to recruit fringe Lion Keidean Coleman on a four-year deal for draft picks 21 and 27.
Pick No.25 came back to the Bombers in the deal.
"It wasn't one we wanted to drive ... his agent was certainly quite insistent," Brisbane list boss Dom Ambrogio said.
Melbourne's premiership vice-captain Jack Viney and teammate Trent Rivers found their way to West Coast for pick No.45, plus future selections in 2027 and 2028.
The Demons struck a late deal with Brisbane to bring in young tall forward Will McLachlan for pick No.45, and picked up Hawthorn delistee Bodie Ryan for pick No.107.
Luke Pedlar secured a rare trade from Adelaide to Port Adelaide, while North's Josh Goater got his wish to join Hawthorn.
North Melbourne fell short of putting the cherry on top of their bumper trade period after acquiring Nick Blakey from Sydney on Tuesday.
The Kangaroos were left with little draft capital after Blakey's blockbuster deal and could not find a first-round pick in this year's draft to pry Murray out of Adelaide.
"I was actually looking for the ice bath at the end of the evening," North's list boss Brady Rawlings said after racing between club boxes at Marvel Stadium.
A late play by Essendon for Geelong's Gryan Miers, who played much of last season with a partially torn ACL, did not come to fruition.
The Bombers and Cats had discussions over the 27-year-old livewire, but Geelong football boss Andrew Mackie said a deal was "not very close".
Jayden Short also missed out on a move to Collingwood, despite the Magpies putting a contract in front of the Richmond premiership player.
Collingwood list boss Justin Leppitsch said the Tigers' demands were not unreasonable, but could not be satisfied.
"It just couldn't be done - a little bit on our end probably as well," he said.
Tigers list boss Blair Hartley said Short's teammates had already made light of the situation.
"He's (Short) already been fined in the group chat for requesting a trade and not getting to a club he wanted to go to," Hartley quipped.
Despite media speculation, Leppitsch said no club contacted Collingwood to discuss trading for defender Dan Houston or midfielder-forward Jordan De Goey.
St Kilda football manager Lenny Hayes acknowledged the Saints were linked to the Collingwood duo, but insisted it never got to a "serious stage".
After trading away Rowan Marshall to Geelong and bringing in Brisbane's Sam Marshall, the Saints are looking to extend Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera before he comes off contract at the end of 2027.
"We're really comfortable with where those (extension) discussions are at the moment," Hayes said.
Richmond earlier settled another trade with Port Adelaide, which gives them a second top-five pick in this year's AFL draft.
The Power parted with pick No.5 in return for Richmond's No.22 pick, along with their first-, second- and fourth-round picks in 2027.
Brisbane and GWS also completed a swap of picks, with the Lions receiving No.25 and 28 in return for No.20 and No.59.
Unlike previous years, most of the biggest free agency and trade deals were completed well in advance of deadline day.
They were moves for Zak Butters (Port Adelaide to Western Bulldogs), Toby Greene (GWS to Geelong), Lachie Neale (Brisbane to Collingwood), Zach Merrett (Essendon to Hawthorn), Ben King (Gold Coast to Hawthorn) and Lachie Whitfield (GWS to Carlton).
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