Roger Federer has become only the fifth man in history to win four Australian Opens and only the second since the event moved to Melbourne Park in 1988 to once again underline his status as the greatest tennis player in history.
And the world No.1's 6-3 6-4 7-6 (13-11) victory over Scot Andy Murray on Sunday night also ensured one of the longest droughts in world sport will go on for at least a while yet.
Murray's defeat - his second to Federer in a Grand Slam final after he also lost to the Swiss master in the 2008 US Open final - means it is still 74 years since a British male won a Grand Slam tournament.
You still have to go all the way back to Fred Perry, who won both Wimbledon and the US Open in 1936, for the last time a British male lifted one of the four major trophies - some three years before the start of the second World War.
But 22-year-old Murray, who in this tournament became the first British male to have reached two Grand Slam finals since the advent of professional tennis in 1968, lost no admirers in defeat - particularly after an epic third-set tiebreaker in which the 22-year-old failed to convert five set points as Federer finally chalked up Grand Slam No.16 on his third match point.
"I can cry like Roger, it's just a shame I can't play like him," an emotional Murray joked at the post-match presentation.
Having already claimed a record 15th Grand Slam title - overtaking the record of Pete Sampras when he won his sixth Wimbledon last year - Federer created yet more history on Sunday night as he added a fourth Australian Open crown to go with his six Wimbledons, five US Opens and a drought-breaking French Open victory last year.
In winning a fourth Australian Open title to go with his 2004, 2006 and 2007 victories - Federer joined American Andre Agassi (1995, 2000, 2001 and 2003) as the only player to have achieved this feat since the tournament was played on a hard court.
The other three players to have won at least four Australian Opens are local trio Roy Emerson, who still holds the record with six, Jack Crawford and Ken Rosewall, who each won four when the tournament was played on grass.
For Federer it takes his record in Grand Slam finals to an astonishing 16-6 with Rafael Nadal (five times) and Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro in last year's US Open final still the only players to beat him in the final of a major tournament.
"I'm over the moon winning this again," Federer said. "I played some of my best tennis of my life over the last two weeks."
Murray, whose loss means he is still considered the best current player not to have won a major, smashed a backhand winner down the line from the very first point of the match and the British hordes thought that finally this might be their night.
But the fifth seed was soon in early trouble when Federer broke him in only the second game of the match before the Scot fought back to break back in the very next game.
However, Federer got the vital break again in the eighth game with a forehand winner down the line and comfortably served out