Murphy was forced to dredge up his best form to see off the 50-year-old Scot in a titanic tussle that looked nailed-on for a decider until Higgins fluffed a black on a break of 50.

Higgins’ miss gave Murphy a chance and despite a rare miss with the rest he seized on a second chance to clear to black and give himself a shot at a first title since his solitary win in 2005.

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Murphy told the BBC: “I just came out today knowing if I got my chances I could score. At the interval I was just saying to myself, ‘you’ve done it before, now you can do it again’.

“But John Higgins – what a player and what a man. The harder it gets out there the tougher he gets and the better he plays. If I’m half the player when I’m in my 50s, I’ll be very proud.”

Resuming the final session 13-11 in arrears, Murphy started in scintillating fashion with two total clearances to haul level, only for the Scot to chisel out the next two to restore his two-frame lead.

Murphy’s fourth century of the match sparked another surge after the interval, and as Higgins began to miss some easy balls, the 43-year-old Murphy went into overdrive, winning the last four in a row to confirm victory.

Higgins paid tribute to Murphy, saying: “The way Shaun hit the ball in that session was incredible. He just hits it like God.

“I’m disappointed but what can you do. As you get older your action starts to go a little bit at the most extreme points of the match, but take nothing away, Shaun was awesome and he’s got a great chance of going on to win it for a second time.”

Murphy will play either Mark Allen or Wu Yize, who resume to a finish on Saturday evening having spent the morning putting the memories of their 100-minute “embarrassment” behind them.

The duo tore through the frames with Wu delivering three centuries – including two breaks of at least 140 – while Allen responded with knocks of 99 and 85 before taking the final frame of the morning to leave it perfectly poised at 11-11.

It was a far cry from Friday’s farcical 14th frame which became the longest in Crucible history after eight reds were left covering the black over the bottom right corner pocket, prompting former champion Steve Davis to call it “an embarrassment to snooker”.