Federer, who has become the second oldest player in history at 35 to win a Slam, produced a sensational performance to overcome his long-term rival Nadal, who fell just short in the end.
The Swiss star, who last lifted the Aussie title in 2010 prior to Sunday's triumph, won the first set 6-4 but his Spanish opponent bounced back straight away to level the scores up after taking the second set 6-3.
Into the third and it was the Basel-born star who turned on the style, taking the set 6-1 to move to within just one set of landing an incredible 18th title. However, Nadal showed his true fighting spirit to force a decider by winning the fourth set 6-3 and give the packed crowd at Melbourne Park more entertaining tennis.
It looked like the Spaniard was on course for just his second win Down Under when he took a 3-1 lead in the decider, but Federer reeled off five consecutive games to win the match.
The Swiss has now moved onto 18 Grand Slam titles, four ahead of Pete Sampras and Nadal in joint-second, and this is his fifth victory at the Australian Open. For Nadal, the tournament has ended in disappointment but he will be buoyed with his performance after he endured an injury-plagued 2016
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