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Australia's first loss by an innings away to England for 30 years has seen them officially surrender the Ashes and be condemned to a fourth consecutive tour defeat to England on the road.
Australia started the third - and ultimately final - day at Trent Bridge needing 90 runs to force England to bat again, yet the more relevant target was the three wickets needed by the home side. It occurred from with the backdrop of Australia captain Michael Clarke deciding he would retire after the series. 
It took only 39 minutes to achieve the goal that, even a month ago, most observers would have thought unlikely, especially by such a margin. It was sealed by Mark Wood crashing through the defences of Australia's last batsman, Nathan Lyon, for four. It left Australia all out for 253, ensuring England captain Alastair Cook will have led his team to Ashes series victory for the second time of his career.
"I said I wouldn't cry, but maybe I might at some stage," Cook told BBC Radio in the aftermath.
The final margin in Nottingham was England winning by innings and 78 runs. The previous time England beat Australia by an innings at home came in the last Test of the 1985 series, when they won by an innings and 94 runs at the Oval.
Australia were - rightfully - so focused on survival it came at the expense of scoring. It took 21 minutes for the visitors to score a run off the bat.
That the first breakthrough came courtesy of Ben Stokes was no surprise, given the masterful way he had bowled the previous day. The all-rounder allowed England to break through within the first quarter-hour of day three, with the all-rounder having Mitch Starc edging to Ian Bell at shoulder height second slip, to depart for a duck.
Even though Stokes broke the back of Australia's batting on day two, and deservedly got 5-35 for his effort, he was arguably even more impressive at the start of day three. His 19th over, delivered just after his wicket, featured his dramatically swinging the ball in both direction, into and away from Josh Hazlewood. Suddenly, the absence of swing specialist Jimmy Anderson seemed of little relevance - certainly not the "Glenn McGrath moment" of 2005, in terms of hurting England as the McGrath's injury hurt Australia then, that the Australian talked themselves into thinking it would be.
Just as Hazlewood was, despite being a very capable No.10 batsman, not good enough to get a bat on Stokes he was unable to get anywhere near a yorker from Wood that ruined his stumps, as he too departed for a duck.
The wicket was a victory for home captain Alastair Cook for demonstrating his faith in the team's most inexperienced seamer, Wood, by keeping him bowling even after completing the over he was unable to finish on day two when play ended early due to bad light, when he could have gone for Broad.
Amid the deep gloom for Australia the only glimmer of light was that Adam Voges got some reward for his stoic innings. Just after the departure of Hazlewood he nudged Stokes into the off-side for a quick single that saw him reach a dogged half-century compiled in two minutes short of three hours, a nod to England's dominant position.
Voges managed only one more run, for a total of 51, before Lyon fell, triggering delirium on the field among the England players and off it too among their supporters, even though the had arrived knowing what the result would be.
The result is a triumph for Trevor Bayliss, the low-profile Australian whose tenure as England coach began only a month before the series.