Trump is the champ! He pots red, pink, red pink, and it’s OVER! He misses a pink, Higgins shakes hands, and we have witnessed absolute greatness! Never will you see a final performance as wondrous, never will you see a first title won with such elan!

But an oversight leaves two reds near the top left which might be blocking each other ... naw. In goes the nearest one, and Trump’s on the cusp!

Higgins is not long for this competition. Trump is cruising on a cushion of air, so hot and so cold you can feel it through the screen.

Higgins is taking everything on now and a miss leaves a fine cut into the middle ... obviously Trump drains it. I’m now wondering how many of these he can win - you can never be sure, because looking back just two years, Selby looked good for a stretch and hasn’t got close since then. But Trump is more versatile, with a higher top level, and tangentially, do we reckon Ding’s missed the boat? I really hope not, but I really think so.

Juddard Trump, first of his name, misses a double and Higgins spiders in a red. But then he tries to force a brown along the baulk line and into the green pocket, misses, and Trump’s in with one ... but with no colour on, plays safe.

Call the cops! Trump misses a red, and by a way. But he leaves nothing, so Higgins plays to the bottom cushion.

“It’s turned into a one-man show,” says Davis. “He’s demolished one of the greatest players ever to pick up a cue ... that second session is the most violent I’ve ever seen.”

Trump may as well walk around the table removing the balls. But he misses a cannon on the final red, so pounds in a green, tickles it off the cushion ... but gets no luck. He misses a double, but won’t care at all - he’s one frame away!

“This has been a performance of power, preposterous potting and no little panache,” says Alan McManus. There’s no snooker naughtier than that which leaves your opponent sat at the side, shaking his head at your infallibility. A black puts Trump 68 ahead with 67 remaining.

We are watching one of the greatest, most complete performances in snooker history - this really is that good, and we must savour its every second. This frame is nearly done, and without a scrap of difficulty.

Higgins plays an attacking safety, breaking the pack, and Trump cues like a dream to see away a loose one - but an infelicitous cannon on the red means it’s a very thin pink ... and it’s there!

Juddance breaks off, and we’re away.

Higgins has played his arse off here, but there’s just nothing he can do - a great is asserting himself, and that’s all there is to it. Drink it in, friends, because joy of this ilk does not often bestow itself upon us.

Trump misses a red to the middle - it won’t quite curl for him, and the players share some laughs. So that’s the session, then, shared at four frames each, and the standard - yes, I know it’s a cliche - was absolutely off the charts. “If you didn’t enjoy that, you don’t like snooker,” says Parrott.

Trump pots his tenth black and rips the white back to disturb some reds, then wallops home one of them. There’s a lot of work to do here, three reds clustered and one on the cushion, and he ends up almost straight above the black. He might cut it, or he might double it ... he’s cutting ... AND IT’S THERE! WHAT A POT THAT IS! The finest contact, and now he needs to smash in a red to the green pocket, disturb the little guy on the side cushion, and this isn’t just a 147 chance, but a chance for one of the all-time great 147s! Oh, and this is the 100th hundred of the tournament, a record.

Five reds, five blacks. There’s one red on the cushion, close to the baulk line, but otherwise, these will not be difficult to remove. More reds, more blacks.

This frame is gigantic – if Higgins gets to within five, you never know. Except he leaves a red on the edge of the cluster that goes to the green pocket - I say leaves, but that’s extremely harsh. It’s just that Trump is rrrrridiculous, and quickly racks up four red-blacks.

This is a majestic run from Higgins - the balls were unhelpfully spread, but he worked his way through them and frees the final red from the cushion with a spectacular cannon. Higgins is rolling!

As I said, Higgins wins the safety exchange and sets about compiling a frame-winner - though there’s bare work still to do.

A safety exchange, and again, Trump looks to have the superior kopf and control. That is absolutely amazing to contemplate.

Higgins gets in first, but on 9 jabs at a black - there’s no opponent more exacting than SB Pressure. Trump eases to the table and starts building.

Hendry is hilarious, rhapsodising Trump’s brilliance before wondering how many titles he’d already have, had he taken things seriously sooner.

Higgins sinks a red to seal the frame, and we will have ourselves an evening session. He’ll need the next two to make it any more than a face-saver, but.

Trump immediately gets to work, but then misses a red to the middle - it looked like it was going in, but somehow slid wide. With two reds up by baulk, it’s hard to see Trump resolving this one.

Higgins is chasing his century of Crucible centuries, and in the process ensuring we have an evening session. He’ll be relieved about that one, I shouldn’t wonder. EXCEPT HE MISSES FRAME BALL, A RED FROM BELOW THE PINK SPOT INTO THE MIDDLE! Trump comes to the table 67 behind with 67 on the table...

Shonuff he’s soon chasing position ... and shonuff he immediately catches position, a pink into the green pocket getting him back on track. The absolute stanes on this lad.

A safety exchange starts frame 23, before Higgins gets in with red-blue. The balls are nicely spread, so he’ll be looking to finish in one visit - but the pressure of knowing that any slip and Trump clears up is a heavy burden.

A run of 126 ends when Trump misses the final black. We are privileged to be alive to see this - tell it to your children and your children’s children.

Trump knows that Higgins is the master of the comeback, and he’ll have known it harder when he lost the first two frames this afternoon. But it doesn’t matter, because he does not give an intimate relations - there’s his sixth ton of the final!

There’s not been the slightest hint of a wobble - Trump just knows. He’s cueing so cleanly and so straight, and rams home a blue, taking the white off three cushions with humiliating power to slide home frame-ball.

This is not fair. Trump raises it again, pushing home a delectable blue to the middle, and this is going to be another one for Juddworth.

If Trump wins the four frames remaining this afternoon, he will be our champion, and HAVE A LOOK! A red sent up the table to yellow pocket like it’s nothing. I can confirm that it is absolutely is not nothing.

Trump misses, so Higgins gets his hand on the table ... but can’t make anything of it and quickly concedes. This is absolutely brilliant from Trump, losing two, thinking nothing of it, and winning two. As Hendry points out, he knows he’s going to win - what a feeling that must be! Admittedly, I’m off the back of a hectic one, but I feel almost tearful thinking about it.

The best snooker I’ve ever seen, I think, was Ronnie in the 2004 worlds, when he just mashed everyone (apart from Andy Hicks). Trump is not quite at that level, but is producing against a far higher calibre of opponent.

Again, Trump is in first, this time from Higgins’ break, and just when it looks like he’s run out of position, a delicate black keeps things ticking along. God wishes he could play like this.

“That century from Judders is the 9th of the final,” emails Aaron Bower from the Cruce, “which is now an all-time Crucible record for a final. The previous best was eight in 2002 and 2013.”

Higgins’ safety isn’t keeping Trump out of the balls here/

I’ve been watching snooker finals since 1985, and I’ve not seen many, if any, with a standard as high as this from both players. O’Sullivan-Selby in 2014, perhaps, though I’m not sure they hit a concurrent peak; O’Sullivan was brilliant, then Selby was. Trump sticks home a black, and that’s the frame – his first of the day and showing no hangover from the previous one, which should also have gone to him.

Confession time: not only do I not understand how Trump’s hair works, but I do not understand how to even conceive of beginning to understand how Trump’s hair works.

Trump missed four chances to win the last frame but gets in again at the start of this, then rolls in a lush yellow and works his way down to the black.

He can! Is something happening here?

Hello! Trump misses a red into the middle, and he’s now spurned three chances this frame. Can Higgins punish?

Higgins semi-flukes a red - he new it was possible - but can’t find a colour, mistimes his roll-up, and Trump is back in.

Trump runs out of position on 19, so plays safe off the yellow.

Trump clips in another long red and this time he’s in for the blue. He rolls home, and now has the chance to rack up some points.

Trump has first sight of a pot and sends the white a long way to nudge into the top-right. But he has to play safe, and off we go again.

Another safety exchange gets frame 19 underway.

A glorious red with the rest allows Higgins to hold for the black, but next comes the difficult ball, not quite on the side cushion ... AND IT’S THERE TO THE BOTTOM LEFT! Then another black and red, and what a black he pots from underneath ... only to run out of position. OH MY WORD! YOU ARE TAKING THE ABSOLUTE! Higgins, king of doubles, doubles the final red off the side cushion and into the top right! Amazing! Only to miss the black! We have ourselves a ball-game!

I’m sort of standing up. This man is something so, so special.

John Higgins don’t you dare! Ten reds, ten blacks, and only one remaining ball in a difficult position.

This is sensational from Higgins – he could run through for the blue but pulls the white back for the black. He’s in a maximum state of mind.

Starter for 1! Higgins cues beautifully to cut in a long red close to the side cushion, and holds for the black! Quickly, he racks up four red-blacks ... SURELY NOT!

We begin with a safety exchange, and it’s that element which underpinned Trump’s charge yesterday. He was remorseless with his cue-ball control, using it to set up his ludicrous potting game.

John Higgins is one of the greatest competitors of all-time – not just in snooker but in all sport. His game is perfectly balanced between skill and will, offering nothing for free – nothing for cheap even – and a big-match temperament whose equanimity and love is extremely moving.

Which makes what Judd Trump did to him last night all the more remarkable. Higgins played pretty well yet was blitzed nonetheless, a genius in the headlights as talent flowered into player right in front of our eyes. It was affirming and it was epochal.

Naturally, Higgins will still expect to win and Trump knows it to be eminently possible, but will be confident in his ability to close out the match. Except, what happens when Higgins wins a frame, and then another and then another?

Break-off: 2pm BST