Has an AFL game ever ended 56-45?
It has. 56-45 has been a AFL final 3 times in 16,622 games. The first was St Kilda beat Sydney on July 7, 1923; the latest was Melbourne beat Footscray on August 25, 1991.
That makes 56-45 the 1534th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 57-45 has happened 2 times and 56-46 has happened 2 times. At one point the score disappeared for 36 years, between 1955 and 1991.