Brentford blew a three-goal lead at Burnley before Mikkel Damsgaard's 93rd-minute winner saw them edge to a 4-3 victory - but that was not close to the end of the drama at Turf Moor.
After pulling back from 3-0 down before Damsgaard's late strike, Burnley thought they had pulled level again five minutes later when Ashley Barnes fired home - only for a four-minute VAR check to rule the ball had struck his hand as he controlled it and deal a blow to the Clarets' survival hopes.
Both Sky Sports News' Mike Dean and Kris Boyd felt video replays were inconclusive and that the goal should have stood, but VAR Paul Tierney felt sufficiently confident of disallowing it without sending referee Samuel Barrott to the pitchside monitor.
That decision would have proven immaterial had Brentford held onto what appeared an unassailable 3-0 lead secured as early as the 34th minute when Kevin Schade bundled home to add to Damsgaard's earlier header and a second on the break from Igor Thiago in front of an increasingly restless home support.
They would likely have been booed off at half-time had they not been handed a stroke of good fortune moments before the break when Michael Kayode diverted a cross into his own net when it struck his trailing leg following a miss-kick.
Kayode was more unfortunate with his involvement in Burnley's second minutes after the interval when he deflected Jaidon Anthony's strike and wrong footed Hakon Valdimarsson to give the Clarets real hope of a comeback.
They completed it on the hour mark when Zian Flemming's powerful header brought Turf Moor to its feet, and the Clarets even thought they had taken the lead from another Flemming finish before VAR rightly adjudged Anthony had been offside in the build-up.
In a game full of attacking resilience but shambolic defending Brentford put their collapse behind them through Damsgaard's injury-time strike, their first shot on target of the second half, and believed they had finally done enough to secure victory amid wild celebrations in front of their travelling support.
Barnes then thought he had had the last laugh with what would have been his first Premier League goal of the season in the eighth minute of added time - but Tierney had other ideas with a controversial overturn to provide one final twist in could well prove the game of the season across the Premier League.