Australia march on to Christmas and the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne with a 2-0 lead in the Ashes confident they will be retained in a matter of days.
A whopping 275-run victory came under lights in the final session when Jhye Richardson took the last of the six wickets they needed when play began and despite the strong defiance of Jos Buttler.
And it was a win fully deserved without two of their best bowlers in the side. Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood will be back in Melbourne, but boy did Richardson and Michael Neser do them proud in their absence.
England will have just under a week to lick their wounds, regather themselves and once again try to prevent what currently feels like the inevitability of yet another defeat.
The bookies had installed 5-0 as the most likely result in this series after the first Test in Brisbane and despite some spirited fifth day resistance from England’s lower order, that assessment still seems fair.
Buttler was at the forefront of the refusal to give the game up without a fight, scoring 26 from 207 balls in an innings that couldn’t be any further removed from his natural game.
And although it ultimately proved futile where the result is concerned, it was a big tick for his character in a week when his keeping and batting have been pulled apart at the seams.
When it was finally ended it was in one of the more bizarre ways, falling hit wicket to Jhye Richardson stepping back onto his stumps trying to force the ball into the off side for a quick single and farm the strike.
He should have completed a pair of ducks in the match when Mitchell Starc found his edge and the ball flew at a comfortable height towards the keeper’s right.
But Alex Carey, normally so secure, simply watched the ball as it sailed harmlessly between him and David Warner at slip.
It was a glaring mistake that the Aussies have rarely made in the series so far, but it showed they have their fallibilities too.
From that moment on the England man dropped anchor and repelled everything the Aussie bowlers had to throw at him.
He left the ball with confidence, defended with purpose and showed that he has all the ability required at Test level to stay in the middle when the going gets tough.
At the start of the day Lord Botham made a call for the remaining batsmen to make Australia dig deep for the win when he said: "I want to see some fight, some bottle, some aggression. There are players waiting in the wings and there are places up for grabs."
And he got what he asked for as Buttler survived for more than four hours, later saying: “I’m delighted they’ve shown character and battled it out.
“Jos Buttler had a bit of luck but he made the most of that luck and he stood tall for a long time, that was good to see.
“Yes we’ve lost, but we showed some guts, some fight and some character and it shows that they can compete and there are still three games to go.”
Alongside Buttler for two of those hours was Chris Woakes, who again provided strong evidence that his batting ability is as strong as his bowling, especially away from home.
It might seem strange to suggest that Woakes should continue to be selected based solely on what he can bring to the party with the bat, but with Ollie Pope failing yet again, there is surely some merit in it.
Pope’s dismissal for four, edging a ball from Starc that angled across him was another soft way for him to fall when he should have had nothing to do with it.
And before him, Ben Stokes fell to Nathan Lyon for 12 as Steve Smith decided on an inspired review to get an lbw decision overturned.
Ollie Robinson also hung around for an hour before Lyon found his edge, but once Buttler had gone, the game was done and dusted with James Anderson the last man to fall to the impressive Richardson who finished with 5-42, his first Test match five wicket haul.
