According to AFP, the final score was 15-12 to Scotland in the Nations Championship at Murrayfield.
It did not live up to that billing. After two days of Nations Championship rugby likely to stay in the memory, this contest was the sort expected to fade by the time fans reached the car park.
The win came without a bonus point, a miss that could yet cost Scotland as the table takes shape.
Scotland had gone in as warm favourites. Depending on the result, the afternoon was cast as a chance of redemption for one side and retribution for the other.
The final whistle arrived as something of a blessing after a hugely disappointing, attritional Test.
In the scrappiest of encounters, the home side drew first blood. With too much power in the phases, Dempsey drove over against the nation he once represented.
Scotland were expected to bring their usual ambition. If anything, they were conservative.
They spent much of the second half in Australian territory and had only three points from Russell to show for that spell.
A late flurry eventually led to a scrum and men over for Scotland, a small burst at the end of a grinding afternoon.
The longer the match went on, the more Australia were described as serial offenders.
One familiar problem remained. Scotland are often easy to score against, and this was another case for that argument.
Absence also told. Any Scotland team without Tuipulotu is a weaker side, and that gap was part of the story of a narrow, forgettable win.