The Brumbies Super Rugby season is over, with the Hurricanes' second-half dominance setting up their 35-16 quarter-final victory in Canberra.
The home side were brave in defeat, going to the break leading by one point and showing dogged determination throughout Friday night's match.
But they simply couldn't get out of their own territory in the second half.
Despite dominating possession, the Hurricanes could only muster two Jordie Barrett penalty goals in the first 25 minutes after the break.
But the dam wall finally burst on the 70-minute mark with Dane Coles, in his first game since March, setting up halfback TJ Perenara who crossed before Barrett added the points to make it 28-16.
Hurricanes winger Wes Goosen put the result beyond doubt with his second try of the night, with Barrett converting.
The Brumbies' defeat means Australian franchises lost all 26 Super Rugby matches against New Zealand opposition in 2017.
Brumbies co-captain Christian Lealiifano came off the bench after halftime, completing a remarkable comeback less than a year after being diagnosed with leukaemia.
But he was denied a fairytale return by opponents who were simply too good.
The Brumbies bounced out of the blocks with James Dargaville getting on the end of a sweeping ball to score the opening try after three minutes.
The visitors hit back soon after through Goosen who stepped through three players to level the scores.
A trademark Brumbies rolling maul drove over the line after 15 minutes, with the TMO seeing "compelling evidence" to overturn the on-field call and award Josh Mann-Rea the try to give the home side a 13-5 lead.
The Brumbies were desperately unlucky to concede after 26 minutes when a Perenara pass ricocheted off Ben May's head and fell to Barrett, who crossed before adding the points to shave the deficit to one point.
A yellow card to Jeffery Toomaga-Allen after the halftime hooter for making contact to the head in a tackle helped the Brumbies to stay in the contest in the second half.
But despite their numerical advantage, the Hurricanes took the lead through a penalty goal and kept the Brumbies scoreless in the second half.