What ensued in the next half an hour at Marvel Stadium was a timely reminder that in sport chickens cannot be counted until they hatch.

The Melbourne Renegades turned the BBL final 180 degrees, taking an astonishing 7-19 to claim a 13-run win. The town had been painted red, with the Renegades claiming their maiden championship and leaving the stunned Stars empty-handed.

Marcus Stoinis and Ben Dunk had put on 93 for the first wicket; the Stars seemingly cruising to victory.

Then, a collapse for the ages.

No one thought much of it when Stoinis was bowled by Cameron Boyce for 39.

Even the departure of Peter Handscomb for a second-ball duck shouldn’t have caused too much panic, given Ben Dunk was set in the middle, and Stars captain Glenn Maxwell was the man making his way out to join the opener.

But it became serious very quickly. Dunk mistimed Boyce to long-off for 57. Then Maxwell, having already been dropped on zero by Cameron White, gave Chris Tremain his second wicket by holing out to deep square-leg.

The Stars had lost 4-6, and suddenly needed 46 from 29 balls with two new batsmen in the middle. It was at least level peggings. But the pendulum was swiftly shifting the Renegades’ way.

Nic Maddinson was caught sweeping Harry Gurney to short fine leg. Seb Gotch (two) and Dwayne Bravo (three) both fell to Dan Christian in the 18th over. Amazingly the equation was 33 needed from the last 13 balls.

Death bowler Gurney kept things tight in the 19th over. By the end it was the Renegades who were cruising. Few of the more than 40,000 in attendance at Marvel Stadium would have witnessed a more remarkable 30 minutes of live sport.

Maxwell decided to bowl after winning the bat flip. Renegades captain Aaron Finch said he would have batted anyway. In any event, his top order capitulated.

The dismissals were a mixed bag, but if there was an overarching theme it was that the hosts lacked cool heads.

Marcus Harris was emblematic of the Renegades’ batting flop. With 13 runs having already come from the first four legal deliveries of the match’s second over, Harris top-edged a Bird off-cutter to be caught by Handscomb for 12.

It was a similar tale for Sam Harper. The gloveman had been a revelation after signing with the Renegades as a replacement player, but he looked overawed by the occasion. Having two survived two close run out shaves, Harper spooned a return catch to Bird, falling for six.

Bird had been recalled for the final at the expense of Evan Gulbis and the paceman's day out continued when he was responsible for the third wicket. But this one owed more to good luck than good areas. The Renegades’ old guard of White and Finch had made a bright start of rebuilding the innings but their partnership ended abruptly after a straight drive from White ricocheted off Bird’s shin and into the stumps, leaving Finch (13) short of his ground at the non-striker’s end.

The third umpire was called on but the skipper had already started making his way towards the changerooms. Television cameras on the big screen showed Finch had vented his frustration by whacking a plastic chair with his bat as he headed down the race. The incident could lead to a fine, but the opener’s emotions were understandable and summed up Finch’s lamentable summer across all formats.

White couldn’t make amends for his involvement in the freak dismissal, trapped lbw by Adam Zampa for 12. When Mackenzie Harvey was then bowled by Zampa for 14 from 16 balls, the Renegades were in dire straits at 5-65.

It was left to Tom Cooper and Christian to navigate their way through the best part of half an innings. Without the wickets in hand to take too many risks, the pair did a lot of nurdling before eventually upping the ante, getting their side to 5-145, a total which for most of the season had been defendable at this venue. But never like this.