Kagiso Rabada – despite the disciplinary cloud hanging over his head – starred for the hosts with 11 wickets in the match including a decisive six-wicket haul in the second innings, while AB de Villiers’ remarkable first-innings 126* was arguably the difference between the sides.

South Africa required just 101 to win in the fourth innings after Rabada swept Australia aside for under 250 for the second time in the Test. They knocked off the runs inside 23 overs – albeit for the loss of Dean Elgar (5), Aiden Markram (21), Hashim Amla (27) and AB de Villiers (28) – with skipper Faf du Plessis and Theunis de Bruyn the not out batsmen.

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The teams and match officials had hoped to calm relations between the players following the ill-feeling that pervaded in the aftermath of the first Test in Durban. But a series of send-offs and verbal exchanges involving the likes of Rabada and Mitchell Marsh and the continued necessity of player charges under the ICC’s code of conduct suggest there is more to come from that narrative.