Australia rose to heights not seen since the Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath glory days to astonish England and level the wildly fluctuating Ashes series with a memorable third Test triumph in Perth.
An Australian victory when the hosts slumped to 5-69 on day one seemed as likely as catching lightning in a bottle, but that's what happened at the WACA Ground.
The 267-run victory left the series on a knife edge at 1-1 heading into the Boxing Day Test at the MCG and showed exactly what Ricky Ponting and his troops are capable of if they keep their heads.
"We've set ourselves, I believe anyway, a new set of standards as far as our Test cricket's concerned this week," Ponting said.
Australian pacemen Ryan Harris (6-47 to follow 3-59 in the first innings) and Mitchell Johnson (3-44 and 6-38) rounded up the England tail, and shared 18 wickets between them in all.
Johnson was named man of the match for his extraordinary performance on the second day, rightfully described by Ponting as "one of the all-time great Ashes spells".
"Momentum and confidence is a great thing in sport," said Ponting.
"We had a fair bit of it for the first few days in Brisbane, we probably had no momentum at all throughout the Adelaide game and sometimes it's really hard to turn around but we've got the tide going back in our direction again now.
"More importantly, we've got some of our key players, like (Johnson) are probably on top of the world and carrying as much confidence as they've probably had in their Test careers.
"We've got a number of guys now that are really playing somewhere near their best and that's why I'm confident in this group.
"It's an amazing thing what a bit of confidence does and just having that winning feeling back around the team again can make the team achieve some pretty amazing things.
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