Simply incredible.
Down four players, five minutes left on the clock and with just four points separating the world No. 7 Wallabies and the world champion Springboks, Australia survived to record what will go down in history as one of the most remarkable finishes to a rugby match ever seen.
In scenes that descended from comedic to farcical in the dying minutes, four yellow cards were dished out to the Wallabies as referee Andrea Piardi and the TMO were forced to communicate via mobile phone, while at one stage the scoreboard displayed the wrong score and the Springboks struggled to count their interchanges as they attempted to make a ninth substitution.
After several disallowed tries, too many TMO interventions to count and an endless barrage of the mean green machine on the Wallabies line, somehow, miraculously, the men in gold survived, claiming one of their biggest wins of the last decade while keeping their unbeaten streak alive under Les Kiss.
"Apparently, all the boys behind the poles, under stress, they were very calm, which is very pleasing. In those moments, you've just got to hold your nerve and stay clear about what you want to do, and I think they did that and yeah, a bizarre finish, but I don't want us to forget about the first 60," Kiss told Stan Sport after the match.
"I think it was a really important step up for us to take that game forward, control the game and really be brave and attack the game as we would have liked to.
"I think the last four or five games being unbeaten you build good habits and mindsets, but to come out and produce that in the 60 minutes to really back our plan, you've got to go deep. It'll go deeper again."
For the first time since 2002 the Wallabies led the Springboks at halftime. For the first time in 20 years, they put more than 40 points on them, and they regained the Mandela Challenge Plate just over a year after they shocked the Springboks in Ellis Park.
While many will fixate on the final 10 minutes that felt never-ending, just as much focus must centre on the incredible effort from Australia, not just to hold onto the 42-38 victory, but to push out to a 24-17 lead at the break and then kick on to a 25-point lead midway through the second half.
Franctic early in the piece, the Wallabies' backline was scattered, the ball hitting the deck multiple times as Ben Donaldson came face-to-face with a blitzing Springboks' defensive line ready to shut any ball movement down.
The breakdown was a happy hunting ground for South Africa's back-row as they repeatedly punished slow cleaners, while their own hard ball runners pushed the Wallabies back and eventually were rewarded with a try in the opening 10 minutes.
Meanwhile in the opening quarter, the Wallabies struggled to build any momentum or carry metres, repeatedly pushed back and the ball quickly moving sideways with no runners prepared to take on the defence directly. Until it all shifted.
Fraser McReight, Rob Valetini and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto took on the line, ran direct and found the soft shoulders. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii -- who shifted to the wing for the first time in his Wallabies career -- soared high and disrupted the Springboks' aerial threats, Max Jorgensen threatened on the edge and Len Ikitau tested the defence.
A backline that was suffering teething issues to start was soon humming as they relentlessly took on the Springboks' line and soon started to win the collision battle.
Deft kicks in behind from Ben Donaldson and Ryan Lonergan had the Springboks turned around and the bounce of the ball was quickly going the Wallabies' way, before Ikitau crashed over for the first of his two tries within two minutes.
The 27-year-old was easily the standout of the night before coming from the field with an ankle injury. Slicing through the defence with ease, he crashed over in the 24th minute off the back of a well-worked lineout move that had Hunter Paisami centimetres from the line before the forwards attempted to barge their way over only for Ikitau to get over after several phases. Two minutes later he would dive over once more, this time off the back of Suaalii's aerial excellence with the ball batted back down into waiting Wallabies hands and the outside centre racing away for Australia to take the lead.
Les Kiss' decision to finally push Suaalii to the wing and move Ikitau to his preferred outside centre role was pure gold, with the centre combination of Paisami-Ikitau marking themselves as the midfield duo of the future.
Paisami's hard ball carries to offload late to Ikitau had the defenders biting and gave the 27-year-old space to rip through the gaps and get over the advantage line, carrying for 86-metres -- only outdone by Jorgensen with 106 -- while Suaalii's aerial dominance has certainly ended any debate of what his best position is in the gold jersey.
"He did a couple of things that we just needed from him in terms of that aerial space," Kiss said of Suaalii's performance. "I certainly think probably could have held his feet a bit more in spaces and we could have unloaded to him, but he was getting into the right areas.
"If we could have got the skill set right a few times, I think we could have put him into a real clear space."
Lonergan was at his best once again, his passing and kicking game astute as he directed his attacking weapons around the park, while Angus Bell was the standout among a firing forward pack with only poor handling errors from Brandon Paenga-Amosa and a yellow card to Wilson the only blights on an otherwise irreproachable night for the forwards.
While the restart remains a sore point in the Wallabies' game, the biggest improver has been their game management. Wilson's decision to take points when on offer and then go on the offensive when it suited was excellent with his team delivering when it counted, while his message to referee Piardi to start the second half "we want to play fast" was delivered upon.
"We talk about how we want to play the game and we left those decisions early to Harry," Kiss said after the match. "Certainly, at halftime we talked about what should we do if we get an early penalty, we took one, but when we had another chance, I was really pleased that they went to the corners again and we backed ourselves to put the pressure on.
"We seemed to have the upper hand. They smelt it, they felt that, and that's what pressure management is about. You understand when you're on the front foot, stay there, put the foot in the throat.
"They're not easy to beat in that fashion, so a lot of pleasing things from that game."
This is in no way the best lineup the Springboks have got. Rassie Erasmus made 13 changes to his team that recently won Rugby's Greatest Rivalry tour over the All Blacks, but just a year out from the World Cup, at the same stadium they'll open the tournament, this Wallabies team will take home lessons no coaching plan could ever teach.