Image source, SNSImage caption, Hearts fans endured an agonising derby at Easter Road before emerging victorious
BBC Scotland's chief sports writer at TynecastlePublished4 minutes agoOne by one, the maroon waves started washing towards the away end at Easter Road.
In victory - late and glorious and possibly historic - Lawrence Shankland ran towards the Hearts fans and punched the air, an afternoon of frustration and relief pouring out of him and those around him.
This was a battle, an unmerciful grind against 11 Hibs players, then 10, then nine. The more men David Gray's team lost, the greater their resolve became. Backs to the wall, utter defiance, questions posed and questions answered.
Derek McInnes threw subs into the maelstrom and those subs delivered in the most spectacular way - Sabah Kerjota heavily involved in the equaliser and the winner, scored by Blair Spittal, another member of the bench cavalry.
McInnes saluted Kerjota for his guile in taking players on and unlocking a defence that at times made you think that a miraculous act of escapology was possible.
Hearts endured and they are three points clear at the top with four games to go. They have Rangers next. Tynecastle awaits. A fortress.
In the three-horse race Rangers were the first to hit a hurdle, losing at home to Motherwell. Their hopes are hanging by a thread now. Hearts can effectively finish them on Monday week.
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Published18 June 2023'Hearts pass monumental test of mettle'This was a monumental test of Hearts' mettle and they passed it, with a world of help from Hibs and their self-destructive red cards.
Look up a thesaurus and you'll find dozens of ways to describe what happened here but, somehow, none of them quite hit the mark. The whole business was entirely in keeping with the season, the twists and turns and stings in the tail.
Sensation is no stranger to this rivalry. Heart-stopping stuff. Bedlam.
Craig Halkett's 90th-minute winner at Tynecastle in October. Raphael Sallinger's spectacular save from Shankland to deny Hearts an injury-time draw in December. Tomas Magnusson winning it in the 88th minute in February.
When it comes to these two, you learn to hold on before making any big calls, particularly Hearts.
From the 83rd minute onwards in all league games this season, they've mined 20 points. Twenty. Last-gasp winners. Late, late equalisers. Never over until it's over. You can make that 23 now. It's an almost unfathomable statistic.
Here, both sides decided to get down to it from the get-go. No feeling their way in, no shadow boxing. With Hearts going for the title and Hibs busting a gut to derail them, there was a school of thought that this was the biggest Edinburgh derby of them all in the league.
And it felt like it. Boy, did it fizz and crackle. Seven minutes in and Martin Boyle scored. His last derby and there he was, writing his own farewell script. Or so he would have hoped.
Jamie McGrath's vicious free-kick, Beni Banigime dozing and in rushed Boyle - cool and calm, a sidefoot to the solar plexus of the visitors. Down the Hearts end, too. A perfect view of their nightmare start.
Easter Road basked not just in the sunshine but in the anxiety of their guests, the unspeakable horror of having their league dream buffeted by their greatest rivals.
What unfolded was pulsating, a red card for Sallinger only four minutes after Boyle scored, a daft act of handling the ball outside his own area and a call that was easier to make than the officials made it look.