Torquay substitute Kevin Wills scored with his first touch of the game to extend the Gulls unbeaten run.
Cruising in from the left wing, he raced on to a defence-splitting pass from Martin Gritton before rifling a low drive in off the far post.
Torquay manager, Leroy Rosenior said: "I brought Kevin on to give us some spark. We had lacked energy and it certainly did the trick." Macclesfield manager David Moss, however, blamed his side's absent-minded defending: "George Abbey is accountable, a full-back should never allow a ball to be played inside him. When it happened, the rest was history." Macclesfield had taken the lead on seven minutes when John Miles pounced on a defensive slip from Kevin Hill before burying a low drive to the far corner from 10 yards.
The Gulls should have equalised on 20 minutes when Gritton muscled Karl Munroe off the ball only to slide his close-range shot inches past the post with only the keeper to beat.
They again went close moments later, Steve Woods thundering a header wide of the upright.
Macclesfield were inspired after the break, but so was Torquay keeper Arjan van Heusden. He made a succession of saves both from close range and distance to frustrate allcomers.
His resilience was to pay off with Wills equalising at the other end after Rosenior's magical substitution.
Macclesfield were desperate to retake the lead and were unlucky in the 77th minutes when Martin Carruthers ghosted into the box only to skim a curling drive off the top off the crossbar.
However, it was Torquay who might have stolen all the points at the death, on-loan keeper Boaz Myhill flinging himself to his right to turn a bouncing goalbound drive from David Graham on to the crossbar.