Kelechi Iheanacho scored a VAR-assisted penalty winner nine minutes into stoppage-time to boost Celtic's William Hill Premiership defence thanks to a 3-2 comeback win at Motherwell as the most dramatic title race in decades took another sensational twist.
Iheanacho slotted a spot-kick as former Hearts midfielder Sam Nicholson was penalised for handball after jumping to head the ball away. The ball appeared to hit his raised hand right in front of his head.
Another former Hearts player Liam Gordon had appeared to hand his old club a massive advantage in the title race after netting an 85th-minute equaliser.
Celtic were heading into a title decider needing to beat the Jambos by three goals and they did not look like getting a winner until referee John Beaton was called to the monitor by video assistant Andrew Dallas as five minutes of stoppage-time were coming to a close.
Beaton pointed to the spot and Iheanacho kept his cool to seal victory and spark a pitch invasion from the visiting fans.
Motherwell had been heading into Europe moments earlier but the penalty drama was compounded by Hibernian's late winner at Ibrox and they will now need to avoid defeat at Easter Road on Saturday to secure fourth.
Hearts will now have to avoid defeat away to Celtic on Saturday in order to win the title after a 3-0 home win over depleted Falkirk maintained their one-point advantage at the top.
The Tynecastle side knew victory in their final home match of the campaign would see them become champions of Scotland for the first time since 1960, only if the second-placed Hoops lost at Motherwell.
While the second part of that scenario ultimately failed to materialise, Derek McInnes' long-time leaders ensured they did enough to keep themselves at the summit heading into Saturday's title-decider at Celtic Park.
Frankie Kent and Cammy Devlin both netted in the first half to ease the tension before Blair Spittal struck near the end as Hearts completed a full season unbeaten at home in the top flight for the first time since the 1985-86 season.
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