THE greatest hour in British athletics? Undoubtedly. The greatest evening in the history of British sport? Even now, 24 hours afterwards, it's proving impossible to think of one better.

Every Olympic host deserves a moment that transcends the narrow confines of sport and touches wider society in a way that will be remembered for generations.

In Sydney, it was Cathy Freeman, uniting a nation as she claimed victory in the 400m. Four years ago, in Beijing, it was the point at which the hosts secured the last of their record 51 gold medals, a haul that confirmed their status as a sporting as well as economic superpower.

We've been spoiled in the last seven days, with our rowers, cyclists, canoeists, judokas, riders and shooters exceeding expectations and winning a flurry of medals that suddenly turned into a stream. Yet still it felt as though that one defining moment had not arrived. Not any more. And just to extract every last ounce of pleasure from what will surely be the high point of the Games, our athletes delivered not one, not two but an incredible three lifetime highs in the space of less than an hour on Saturday night.

In 43 miraculous minutes, Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah scripted the headlines that had long been written for them, while Greg Rutherford penned a chapter that was much more unexpected but just as rapturously received.

The glow of euphoria that swept around the 80,000-seater Olympic Stadium was infectious; the noise like nothing a British athletics event has ever experienced before.

How fitting that Ennis was the one to get the ball rolling. The Sheffield heptathlete has long been billed as the 'face of the Games', with her image beaming down from the side of office blocks and peering out from the cover of countless magazines.

What pressure to be crowned before your event has even begun. Could Ennis handle the expectation, the vicariously-lived dreams of millions?

Of course she could. Beneath the unfailingly polite and engaging exterior of the 26-year-old lies a competitive heart of stone.

Scarred by the memories of Beijing, where an injury left her watching on frustrated at home, and Daegu, where a wretched javelin throw saw her relinquish her world title last summer, she was not going to be denied again.

She had laid the ground work on Friday of course, with personal bests in both the 100m hurdles and 200m taking her clear of the field.

Saturday started successfully in the long jump, with a leap of 6.48m taking her to within three centimetres of her best-ever mark, and when the javelin, traditionally her weakest event, saw her produce an impressive throw of 47.49m, the gold was as good as won.

The 800m could have been anti-climactic, as Ennis held an eight-second advantage over her closest rival. But Britain's golden girl does not think like that, and she duly treated her audience to a bravura display, sprinting clear in the final straight and claiming the fifth-highest heptathlon points total of all time.

“Obviously I was really aware of all the pressure and what people were expecting me to do,” said Ennis. “Everyone was just expecting me to win so I have had a few moments at home with my fiance worrying a bit and wondering if it was all going to go right or whether something would happen and it would fall apart, so it was a huge amount of pressure.

“But I wanted to make the most of that opportunity - just make sure I trained as hard as I could and delivered on those two days. Thankfully, I can sit here and say that I did.”

Ennis must have spent most of the last four years dreaming of being Britain's first track-and-field gold medallist at these Games, but incredibly, by the time she was celebrating her victory, Rutherford had effectively claimed an Olympic title of his own.

With a number of the world's leading long jumpers either out of form or absent, his event always looked like being one of the most wide-open of the athletics programme. Yet the 25-year-old's previous record, peppered with injuries and a serial failure to deliver, hardly inspired confidence.

When it mattered most though, Rutherford came through. His second-round jump of 8.21m established a stranglehold on the competition, and his fourth-round effort of 8.31m, only four centimetres shy of the British record, always looked like being enough. So it proved, with his success confirmed before he had even had to attempt his final jump.

“Nobody expected me to win this,” said Rutherford, who was a promising footballer with Aston Villa before opting to concentrate on athletics. “I think it was just me who thought I could be Olympic champion. I've been telling myself that and I did it.

“This is just the start for me. I want to become double Olympic champion, triple Olympic champion. These five years, I want them to be my glory years. This will probably be the greatest night of my life, whatever happens. But I will keep striving for more.”

With two golds secured, the stage was set for Farah, and the denouement of the 10,000m final was as dramatic as anything that has been played out so far in the Games.

It had been a messy race to that stage, with a battalion of African runners attempting to disrupt Farah with see-sawing changes of pace.

With two laps to go, any of a dozen runners could have claimed gold. Farah made his move with 500m left, and for a fleeting moment, it looked as though history was about to repeat itself after he he had been overhauled on the final lap of last year's World Championship 10,000m final.

This time around though, Farah was much too strong. With the crowd roaring themselves hoarse, he out-sprinted then out-stayed his rivals, covering the final 400m in a mind-boggling 53.48secs.

“I was in shock, in tears, the whole lot,” said Farah, who enjoyed an emotional post-race embrace with his daughter Rihanna and pregnant wife Tania. “I didn't know what was going on. It was the greatest day of my life, it doesn't get any better than that. My legs were getting tired and I had to dig in, but the crowd gave me that bit of a boost.”