With the Broncos clinging to a 16-12 lead and having turned in what looked like a match-winning defensive effort, Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt turned the game on its head when he scored in the corner with time up on the clock.
The scene was set for champion halfback and captain Johnathan Thurston to snatch the win for his side with a sideline conversion, and despite the acute angle, it seemed unfathomable that he might miss the most important shot at goal in his brilliant 12-year-career.
You could almost feel the entire North Queensland region's heartache and dismay as the Steeden ricocheted away off the right-hand goal post to send the match into over-time.
North Queensland fans rejoiced again, when Broncos halfback Ben Hunt lost sight of the kick-off, and the ball bounced off his chest and out of his arms to hand the Cowboys' chief gunslinger a second shot at glory.
After two aborted attempts at a field goal the Cowboys kept their composure, and on the fourth tackle, Thurston made no mistake in directing the ball off his boot and between the uprights to claim the unlikely win.
But go back to the 79th minute and it looked like Mission Impossible for the Paul Green-coached side, who had previously been on the wrong-side of season-ending controversial calls in each of the last three finals series.
Up until those last brilliant moments, it was far from Thurston's happiest night, as he struggled to find a way through the Broncos almost water-tight defence.
With Jordan Kahu's penalty increasing Brisbane's lead to four early in the second-half, Wayne Bennett's men seemed content to defend and found themselves repeatedly working the ball off their own line.
The Cowboys began testing Kahu with a procession of high kicks to his corner, but the Broncos absorbed the best Thurston and his mates could muster.
The four-time Dally M Medal winner, two-time Golden Boot winner and eventual Clive Churchill Medalist, had tried almost every trick in his phone-book sized list of pet plays to no avail.
Five-eighth Michael Morgan was held-up ingoal, Thurston's face-ball to Kane Linnett came unstuck with the line begging, and Lachlan Coote was penalised for a double movement, before Justin O'Neil was cut down inches short.
But with the seconds ticking down, Thurston's never-say-die effort to run back 10 metres to keep the ball alive with an offload to Morgan, allowed his halves partner to deliver a brilliant back-handed pass for Feldt to tip-toe over and level the scores and set up the grandstand finish.
Brisbane's role in making this match an all-time classic should not be downplayed. They were terrific up-front with Kiwis enforcer Adam Blair and Sam Thaiday leading the way for the forwards, and their backs attacked with confidence and speed, before tackling themselves to a standstill in the second-half.
Even channel Nine commentator, the great Ray Warren, lauded the match as the best grand final he had witnessed. And who are we to argue.
