The darkest hour came just before an Ashes dawn at Old Trafford, where Australia ended England's resistance late in the final session of the fourth Test to secure the urn and a dramatic 185-run victory.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Tim Paine's team, accused of choking under pressure as Ben Stokes snatched an astonishing one-wicket win in the third Test, bounced back to bank a momentous 2-1 series lead.
Paine achieved something beyond the reach of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke in becoming the first Australian captain to retain the urn in England since Steve Waugh in 2001.
Marnus Labuschagne landed one in the rough to break a stubborn ninth-wicket stand, spanning 64 minutes and no shortage of tense moments, then Josh Hazlewood trapped Craig Overton lbw to complete the win at 6.14pm local time.
Overton, Joe Denly and Jos Buttler faced a combined 339 deliveries, giving their team hope of completing a great escape on a par with Monty Panesar and Jimmy Anderson's Cardiff miracle in 2009.
Overton's review briefly delayed Australia's celebrations as England, rolled for 197 after being set a target of 383, fell 81 balls short of salvaging a draw.
It came two hours after clouds started to roll in at tea, raising the hosts' hopes of bad light.
"A few nervous moments," Paine admitted.
The win was a fortnight after Ben Stokes broke the tourists' hearts at Headingley, raising suggestions Australia were bereft of momentum and mettle.
"That was a loss that would break a lot of teams but I was really confident that we weren't one of those teams. I could feel it," Paine reflected.
And it came what must feel like a lifetime after the Cape Town cheating scandal, certainly for Paine and those players who were at Newlands.
"The group has clearly been through a fair bit of adversity, some more than others, but a lot of the guys in that change room have been through what happened at Cape Town," Paine said.
"It's times like that you find out what sort of people you have got. People can roll up and give up or keep fighting.
"We've got a group of guys who have come back and kept fighting and kept wanting to get better, keep wanting to be in situations like we were at Headingley ... Headingley's loss makes today all the more sweeter after a lot of people wrote us off."
The series finale starts in London on Thursday but regardless of the result at the Oval, Australia will keep hold of the urn thanks to their 4-0 series win in 2017-18.
"It is still very raw ... it hurts. I have to take that on the chin," England captain Joe Root said.
Man of the match Steve Smith set up Sunday's win with superb knocks of 211 and 82, while Pat Cummins knocked over both Rory Burns and Root late on day four then claimed the key scalp of Stokes on day five.
"It was always one I wanted to tick off my bucket list, to get the urn over here. Obviously there's another game left but to know it's coming home, that's extremely exciting," Smith said.
AAP
