New Zealand's national record holder, Bruce came into the event as a serious medal contender, holding the second-best throw of the 17 competitors in the field.
But it all came unstuck in qualifying for the 25-year-old, failing to record a successful attempt on her three throws.
She stepped out of the ring on her first attempt, before her second attempt went into the left webbing of the net.
That left Bruce with a do-or-die throw, merely needing to register an effort of over 60 metres to qualify for the final.
Instead, the Cantabrian with a personal best of 74.61m threw it wide, and was left with her hands on her head in anguish after a third foul throw eliminated her from the competition.
Despite Bruce's shock exit, New Zealand still have two representatives in the final, with Julia Ratcliffe throwing the second-best attempt in qualifying with 68.73m, while Nicole Bradley qualified eighth with 61.77m.
Ratcliffe, the defending champion, will have her work cut out to win gold however, with the favourite being Canada's Camryn Rogers, who produced a Games record throw of 74.68m.
The hammer throw final is at 6am on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Sam Tanner has just snuck into the final of the men's 1500m.
After the first heat was run in a winning time of 3.37.57, the second heat was much slower, meaning that only the top five finishers would advance to the final.
Tanner had to fight for position multiple times and stumbled before the closing straight in a physical race, but regained his position and then sprinted well in the mass finish to claim fifth.
Only 0.31 seconds separated heat winner Jack Wightman and Tanner in fifth, with Tanner holding a 0.33 second gap over sixth place to ensure he'd move on to the final, held at 12.10am on Saturday.
In the women's high jump, Keeley O'Hagan qualified for the final, as one of 12 jumpers to hit 1.81m.
