Out of the atypical Perth glug and mizzle, it came in a rush: the end for England, and for Ashes cricket at the WACA, and the consummation of an end for Australia. On the day, as in the series, they emerged from under cloud into the glow of sunshine and a nation's acclaim.
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It was only fitting. Of all the venues and matches liable to finish up as a damp squib, this would have been the least apt, meteorologically and stylistically.
Australia can be well pleased with this Ashes reclamation, for it was at a level more of a triumph than their previous two successes. They were less obviously dominant in manpower than in 2013-14. In fact, their personnel were less obvious, period. Who had the Marsh brothers and Tim Paine and Cam Bancroft in their dream teams? They are there now, as Ashes heroes. They are not yet a great team, but they have done a great thing.
Australia has won against three tosses, on three different types of pitches, at day and night, despite a misstep when not enforcing the follow-on in Adelaide and in the face of sabotage by weather in Perth.
They were even, and patient, and sometimes ruthless, and often brilliant. They have been united. When the deed was done on Monday, it was captain and batsman for the ages Steve Smith who ran to retrieve the ball discarded in the rapturous celebration to give to five-wicket clincher Josh Hazlewood.
Looking onwards, to this silver cloud, there is one black lining: the last two Tests again become dead rubbers. Because of the reconfiguration of the Australian summer 20 years ago, putting the Melbourne and Sydney Tests at the back of five-match series, Sydney has not had a live Ashes Test since 1994-95, and Melbourne has had only one, in 2010-11. It died at lunch on day one.
The occasion is never less than grand, but too often the stakes are only notional. This deadening of the two biggest fixtures compounds from the worldwide phenomenon of home-team hegemony (the wondrous exception is Australia and South Africa, who evidently can beat each other only away). The smaller the world becomes, paradoxically, the more cricketers are lost in it.
Theories abound. It's the conditions. It's the balls. It's T20 cricket. It's a less resilient generation. For England in Australia, it's that their bowlers aren't fast enough. For Australia in England, it's that the batsmen are all at sea.
Less considered is the scheduling, which is more condensed now than ever. There is no doubt that teams unravel more quickly away, and once the unravelling begins, there is no time or room to re-ravel. It is happening to England right now.
They came with a conservative blueprint: bat time, bowl tight, dampen the contest. For a limited team, it made a kind of sense, a coat cut according to their cloth. But it hasn't worked. They have had moments and found players even as they have watched others wither, but another whitewash still looms. With their eyes shut tight, the visitors already are are thinking of England 2019.
Homeliness is self-fulfilling. The more teams can't win away, the more they shore themselves up at home, the more away teams can't win. There is little collective will to do anything about it. Home-town heroes suit home town authorities, broadcasters and ground managers down to the customised ground. All would have been in their counting houses on Monday night.
Since the landmark series of 2005 when England at last broke Australia's 20-year stranglehold, the Ashes combatants have barricaded themselves into their forts. Australia's win-loss record at home in that time is 14-3, in England 3-8.
It's not even close. There are fluctuations within matches, but no argument at the end. Since 2005, Australia and England have played only two matches decided by fewer than eight wickets or 100 runs, both in 2013. Each Ashes series begins with a frisson, but ends in anti-climax. A quarter of Ashes Tests since 2005 have been dead rubbers, and now there will be two more. As winners this time, Australia can grin. But next time?
All is not lost. To this no-place-like-home theory, there are two spectacular counterpoints. One is the Australian summer of 2010-11, when England won 3-1, all three by an innings. This was not just an exception to the rule, but an exceptional exception.
It was not as if there was some sort of epic World Series-style disruption. Seven of the Australian team and eight of the English were back four years later when the result was comprehensively overturned. More than ever, 2010-11 sits in the record books as an Ashes series out of time. For Australia, it is an itch that can never be scratched.
The other buck in the trend is the way the trend has been bucked. Of the six away Ashes wins since 2005 - three each - five were by an innings, one by 405 runs. This wasn't merely one catching out the other resting on victors' laurels: four of the six were live Tests. It can be done, here and there. The trick is do it everywhere. That is now Australia's mission.
