Hibernian survived a late fightback from Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts to dent their rivals' title hopes in an epic five-goal Edinburgh derby.

With the hosts cruising at 3-0 up at Easter Road, late goals from Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Devlin set up an incredible finale in Leith.

But a stunning save from goalkeeper Raphael Sallinger to deny Shankland, and another to thwart Beni Baningime, prevented a remarkable turnaround and inflicted just a second league defeat on Derek McInnes' men.

The result allowed Celtic, who still have a game in hand, to narrow the gap on Hearts to three points with a win at bottom side Livingston later on Saturday.

By the time the full-time whistle was blown, it felt long ago that the outstanding Jamie McGrath had somehow managed to raise the noise level when he cushioned in an early opener from Nicky Cadden's cross from the left.

A first-half injury for Cadden then meant McGrath had to shift from midfield to left-wing back, and it was from that side the Hibs man provided the cross for substitute Josh Campbell to glance in an excellent 45th-minute header to the far post.

Hearts did not manage a shot on target in the first period but passed up a glaring chance to level when Shankland directed a header just wide of the far post.

Losing a second goal so close to the break was a damaging blow for McInnes' rattled side, who were three down minutes after the interval when Stuart Findlay's poor clearance allowed Kieron Bowie to drive forward and thump in a third.

The Gorgie visitors caused serious nerves among the home support, though, turning the screw in the final stages as Shankland headed in a wicked ball from Alexandros Kyziridis, who had two earlier efforts saved.

Sallinger then parried another Kyziridis strike straight into the path of Devlin to finish on the rebound, but Hibs managed to hold on to their advantage in a wild conclusion.

This derby will not be forgotten any time soon, but what will its lasting impact be on this campaign?

Hibs have had a stop-start season, and who knows what shipping a three-goal lead in this fixture would have done for this team.

The target for Gray and his players now must be consistency, with just two points separating third and fifth.

Hearts were well below their level, but the level of concern that was there for McInnes when his side were three down was significantly reduced by the time they were listening to 'Sunshine on Leith'.

The return of Craig Halkett, playing alongside Stuart Findlay, meant the leaders had their first-choice centre-back pairing restored for the trip to Leith, but the duo were rocking for spells of a frantic encounter.

The pressure will only ramp up as the months go on, and there is a realistic chance Hearts are second by the time they play again.

But the character they demonstrated in their late rally evidences this title challenge is sustainable, with a favourable run of fixtures on the horizon.

Hibernian head coach David Gray: "I asked [the players] for a big statement win, we got that today. It's now about kicking on and trying to be more consistent with our results.

"They are a really good group, they work hard all the time. The dressing room is a very good dressing room. There's a long way to go, a lot of football to be played.

"I'm sure the neutrals enjoyed it, I'm off for a lie down."

Hearts head coach Derek McInnes: "If you don't do the basics well, it doesn't matter how good you are or how good a run you're on, you're going to end up with a sore one.

"We nearly get the draw at the end, the keeper's pulled off a brilliant save, but you can't just play for half an hour and lose three goals and expect to get something from the game.

"It's a sore one for us, but we've got to own that."

Hearts have a week off before they face Livingston at Tynecastle on 3 January (15:00).

Hibs welcome Aberdeen on Tuesday (19:45) before a trip to Kilmarnock next Saturday (15:00).