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And it depends if the weapon is an open-bolt or a closed bolt design.
I believe all semi-autos are closed bolt. and yes, after firing off the second last round, the last round will be chambered and the magazine will be empty.
For most machine guns (ie belt-fed weapons), which are designed for sustained full auto fire, the firing mechanism will be an open-bolt design. When you squeeze the trigger, the bolt will move forward, stripping the round from the magazine/belt, chamber it, fire the round, return to the open bolt position (either by the using the gas generated by the powder, or by blowback, which uses direct recoil force from the casing to the bolt). If trigger is still depressed, repeat the cycle again.
So for closed bolt weapons, it would be as hrdwareguy has described, and for open bolt, it would be as I described.
Hope this helps.
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