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After Australia were dismissed for 98 in the first innings and England put on 159 for their opening wicket in reply, this Test match was ever going to end in one way - with an England win.
It was simply a case of waiting for them to seal victory and the special moment arrived on Wednesday morning, sparking wonderful scenes as England retained the Ashes for the first time in 24 years.
Their last triumph down under came in 1986/87 and my first tour to Australia was in 1991, so I've covered five unsuccessful series and at last that painful run has come to an end.
There have been occasional happy moments along the way, but generally it's a collection on bad memories and frustration.
Of course we come here to report impartially, but if you're English you want to see England win. And so for me, after 20 years of reporting on Australian victories, this was a tremendous thrill.
To be out there savouring the moment, being part of the noise and the colour, speaking to the players so soon after the match... it's the reason we all do this job, to savour moments like these.
Casting my mind back over the English defeats I've witnessed in Australia, their last trip four years ago must go down as the worst of the lot, which makes this result all the more special.
Many of us saw it coming in 2006/07, we felt the hard work hadn't been done and there was no excuse for that. We knew how Australia would respond to their 2005 loss, we knew what sort of bulldozer would hit England in Brisbane.
For some reason England didn't see it coming, they had no idea, no preparation at all. It was a totally unprofessional tour. The wives and girlfriends were out there from the start, there was no proper focus. It was a stinker.
Many of the other tours left me with a similar feeling; I'd crawl into the commentary box of Australia's ABC radio to apologise and make excuses for what was going on in the middle. It was embarrassing and they would have a good laugh.
But this time the boot is on the other foot and to be fair they've taken it really well - they're professionals and hopefully they realise it's actually good for them that they've lost the Ashes.
They'll hate to admit it but they've got so many issues within Australian cricket that need addressing and it's a defeat like this that brings those matters to a head - it means administrators and selectors have to take action rather than just think about taking action.
A good old defeat doesn't do anybody any harm and when England return in 2013/14 the home fans will be out in force, desperate to see Australia win the Ashes on home soil. This result breathes new life into one of sport's greatest rivalries.
Meanwhile, the travelling supporters will be celebrating for some time to come. To put it into context, the last time England won in Australia the Barmy Army hadn't even been formed! They first appeared on the scene in 1994.
That's five tours in which they've paid all that money, spent all that time, chanted all those songs and drunk all those beers without seeing England win. Twenty-four years since the 86/87 win is a very long time.
I'm not sure the players even fully appreciate the magnitude of their achievement. Throughout the tour they've been so focused on the here and now that they've not once had the chance to looking ahead.
They would have walked out on Wednesday thinking 'let's finish them off' and then suddenly - bang - it's happened, 'what do we do, how does it feel?'. The attitude and spirit within the squad has been spot on.
I'm extremely lucky to deal with them an awful lot and these are genuinely very nice lads. Character, maturity, friendship - this team exudes all of that and a lot more.
But the key to their success was preparation. It was hopeless in 2006 but this time round they've used it really well, there was no messing about. It generated team spirit and brought players into form.
Team director Andy Flower again showed himself to be an outstanding coach and a superb dealer of people. He and captain Andrew Strauss compliment each other very well.
Strauss is very much respected and liked by his team-mates, he's had a very good series as far as the captaincy is concerned, he's made lots of good decisions and enjoyed a spot of luck here and there.
And the backroom staff have had a massive impact. They are incredibly dedicated people, very clever, innovative and always looking to improve. They want England to be number one.
People raised their eyebrows when Richard Halsall was appointed as fielding coach but just look at the results - England's fielding has been all over Australia's and that hasn't been the case for 20 years. We used to laugh at Phil Tufnell letting the ball through his legs down in the deep!
It's now Australia who have to go away, look at what England do and try to emulate them in order to improve and catch up with us. That is new territory.
For the last 20 years we've had all this talk about needing an academy because Australia have got one, needing to reduce the number of first-class teams we've got because Australia haven't got so many etc. Well now it's us doing things right and certainly the investment in our coaching staff has paid dividends.
But the series isn't over yet - on we go to Sydney for the fifth and final Test. Will England win the Ashes? At the start I predicted they'd win 3-1 and I'm pretty confident that's still going to be the case.
Jonathan Agnew was speaking to BBC Sport's David Ornstein.
Listen to commentary highlights from the day three of the fourth Test (UK users only)
TMS podcast: Agnew and Boycott's review (available worldwide)
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