A fairytale golden-point fieldgoal from Darren Lockyer in his last match in Brisbane has booked the Broncos a major semi-final berth and ended defending premiers St George's season.
After a 78th-minute regulation-time try to Darius Boyd pulled the Dragons to 12-all, it was left for Lockyer to steal the show, claiming the match-winning one-pointer with his final touch on Suncorp Stadium and sending the crowd of 48,474 into raptures.
In a match characterised predictably by high-completions rates and unbreakable defence, the Broncos were deserving victors, having led from the time Ben Te'o scored in the 15th minute to the time Boyd brought his side level in the 78th.
Lockyer, who sent a shiver through the crowd when he stayed down after taking an errant knee from Gerard Beale in the 70th minute, turned in a masterful performance, laying on Brisbane's first try and kicking with pinpoint accuracy throughout, before icing the game in unbelievable fashion.
While Brisbane are now set to face Manly for a place in the grand final, St George's loss brings an end to the celebrated career of gun centre Mark Gasnier and the tenure of mastercoach Wayne Bennett.
In a further blow to the visitors, representative winger Brett Morrison left the game in the late stages of the second half with a suspected broken tibia.
The Dragons were able to showcase their gold-standard defence, giving the Broncos no slack in the middle of the park, but without any attacking cohesion, they rarely looked likely to score.
From the opening kick the sides worked their way through seven minutes of cautious, unbroken action, but after Wallace was put on report for an innocuous high shot on Boyd in the 10th minute, the game began to open ever so slightly.
The penalty piggy-backed St George into the Brisbane half and the Dragons gelled briefly for their best opportunity of the half, with Gasnier breaking through and finding Soward, who was eventually pulled down by Alex Glenn just metres from the line.
But Brisbane recovered quickly and in the 15th minute their legendary skipper sparked first points, taking on the line before finding a rampaging Te'o with a beautifully judged short pass.
Lockyer looked on his way to second try-assist five minutes later, but after slipping through untouched and finding support on the outside with an over-the-top pass, he was let down by the handling of young winger Dale Copley.
Brisbane's advantage over the grinding first half should have led to an eight-point half-time lead, but a missed a penalty in the 38th minute from Corey Parker meant they went to the break only one-try clear.
Lockyer began the second-half with the same rare determination he'd shown in the first, and quickly had his side on the front foot with repeat sets after sending in a deft banana kick and then driving Morris back into the in-goal.
Adam Cuthbertson's laziness around the ruck area cost the Dragons yet another penalty in the 47th - taking the count to 5-1 in Brisbane's favour - and Parker seized the opportunity to knock over a 40 - metre penalty from right in front.
Dragons skipper Ben Hornby went within a fingertip of grounding a first try for his side with half an hour to play, but the breakthrough wouldn't come until five minutes later, when Cuthbertson made amends for his early giveaway by pouncing on a