As the champagne flowed, tributes celebrating the Black Caps victory poured in from around the world -- even Salman Rushdie was swept up in the momentous occasion.
The Man Booker Prize-winning novelist and cricket nut was among thousands who revelled in the win last night.
"Wow. Congratulations New Zealand. What a finish. #WorldCup," Rushdie tweeted.
Prime Minister John Key, and former international cricketers Shane Warne and Brian Lara also joined in.
"Well played NZ well deserved!! Cricket the true winner best game of the Cup!! Grant Elliott cool head magnificent innings!! #ontothefinalsNZ," Lara tweeted.
Warne, who earlier doubted the Kiwis could win, changed his tune at match end, tweeting: "What a game of cricket in NZ, please hold your heads high South Africa, you've done everyone proud as you gave it absolutely everything!!"
And like many others -- including batsman Ross Taylor -- Mr Key said he was looking forward to Sunday's final.
"Congratulations @Blackcaps on a fantastic win! Looking forward to watching you in the final on Sunday," he wrote on Twitter.
Taylor was quick to fire off his own tweet soon after the match: "Woohoo. Who's coming to Melbourne?"
Captain Brendon McCullum's older brother Nathan also posted a congratulatory tweet.
"Amazing from the boys today. Serious innings from @grantelliottnz. What a feeling. Melbourne here we come."
At Eden Park, fans made the most of the party atmosphere -- reflecting on a dramatic day of cricket.
Archie Deshpande felt he had witnessed one of the great games in New Zealand's sporting history.
"I'm going to be telling my grand-kids that I was here," he said.
"I was just so nervous I went crazy, just standing there waving my arms around. I couldn't control myself."
James Poore opted to calm his nerves at a Kingsland pub.
"I've got a headache from yelling so much," he said. "It was pretty good seeing my South African boss emotional as well.
"It was unreal."
Mr Poore said he was twice as nervous as he had been over the epic pool game between New Zealand and Australia at the same venue.
Police said the crowd of more than 40,000 at the park had been generally well behaved.
"Fans of both countries played their part in creating a wonderful atmosphere," said Inspector Peter Gibson.
There were 31 evictions from Eden Park for breaches of the terms and conditions of entry.
Two people had also been arrested for disorderly behaviour.
In South Africa, headlines summed up the Proteas' devastating loss.
Eyewitness News led with: "The dream is over! Proteas out of world cup".
National news website www.news24.com ran the headlines "Proteas crash out of CWC" and "Proteas go down at the death" alongside photographs of emotional team members.
The cricket.co.nz website described the Proteas' loss as being "tantalisingly short" and ran a series of messages sent from brokenhearted fans.
By Teuila Fuatai of the New Zealand Herald and Matthew Theunissen of the Herald on Sunday
