Dominant Australia collected the last four wickets they needed Sunday to win the third Test and retain the Ashes in just 11 days of cricket, crushing the dreams of a "hurting" England side who finally showed some fight.
England's dogged resistance on day five at Adelaide Oval lasted into the second session before Scott Boland removed Josh Tongue for an 82-run victory to ensure the famous urn remains in Australian hands.
"It feels pretty awesome," said Australia captain Pat Cummins.
"It wasn't easy today, but we got it done. It's an exciting changing room.
"The last two months have been a bit of a grind," he added.
"But it's all worth it for days like this. That's when we are at our best ... it's good old-fashioned grind, and I love the toil from all the guys."
The tourists needed a win to keep the five-match series alive after being crushed by eight wickets at Perth and Brisbane, with two more Tests still to play at Melbourne and Sydney.
- 'Everyone is hurting' -
But despite showing more grit, they were again outplayed by an Australian team who suffered a setback with spin wizard Nathan Lyon hurting his hamstring and hobbling off.
Chasing 435 was always going to be a huge challenge, with no side ever reeling in more than 418 to win in Test history, but England at least gave it a crack as they got to 352.
Their demise in just 11 days is the joint second quickest in more than a century since the 1921 series was completed in eight days, with their "Bazball" style of ultra-attacking cricket exposed.
"That dream is now over, which is incredibly disappointing," said England skipper Ben Stokes.
"Everyone is hurting and quite emotional about it. It hurts, it sucks, but we ain't going to stop."
But Stokes also took some positives from the way England battled, having demanded more fight leading into the match.
"That stuff I wanted to see, I've seen that this week. I think we can take a lot from this game," he said.
England's capitulation over three Tests is a far cry from the pre-Ashes hype where they were touted as having their best chance in a generation to win a series in Australia.
And it made a mockery of former fast bowler Stuart Broad's claim that the hosts had their weakest side in 15 years, written off by others as a "Dad's Army".
The reality for Stokes's men is that England have now gone 18 Tests since winning in Australia, dating back to their last series victory there in 2010-11.
Their last three trips yielded one-sided scorelines of 5-0, 4-0 and 4-0, with more of the same on the cards unless there is a dramatic shift in their fortunes.
- 'Livin' on a Prayer' -
They resumed on 207-6 with Will Jacks on 11 and Jamie Smith two.
Smith showed early intent by slog-sweeping Lyon over deep midwicket for six then banged another off Cameron Green as the Barmy Army fans broke into Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer".
After four days of searing heat and sunshine, the lights were on with dark clouds looming and after 40 minutes the players went off as fine rain returned.
They were back out 40 minutes later with Lyon limping off soon after the restart after pulling a hamstring in saving a boundary.
He was sent for scans and ruled out of the rest of the Test, later seen on crutches with rest of the series for him in peril.
When Mitchell Starc took the new ball, Smith began hitting out and it proved his downfall when he skied to Pat Cummins at midwicket.
Jacks produced his highest Test score of 47 and steered England's chase below 100.
But he fell to another spectacular catch from Marnus Labuschange, diving to his left in front of wicketkeeper Alex Carey after an edge off Starc.
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Starc struck again to send Jofra Archer packing before Boland took out Tongue, sparking huge celebrations.