O'Sullivan's victory adds to his wins in the sport's blue riband event in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2013, putting him level with England's Steve Davis and one behind Stephen Hendry, for all-time wins at the Crucible Theatre, which has hosted the event since 1977.

O'Sullivan's win at the age of 44 means he becomes the oldest world champion since Welshman Ray Reardon in 1978.

The victory also took O'Sullivan, nicknamed "The Rocket" to 37 ranking event titles, one ahead of Scotsman Hendry.

Resuming 10-7 overnight, O'Sullivan's advantage was reduced when Wilson took the first frame of the third session of play with a break of 73.

From then on, O'Sullivan stamped his class all over the match, extending his lead as Wilson missed a pink when trying to reply to an O'Sullivan break of 64.

O'Sullivan then made breaks of 61 and 57 to lead 13 frames to eight at the mid-session interval.

Wilson got in first in frame 22 but after missing a red O'Sullivan made a break of 60 to go six clear and then a break of 71 to go 15-8 ahead.

Breaks of 72 and 61 helped O'Sullivan to widen his advantage further and gave him a 17-8 lead at the end of the first session, one frame away from lifting the trophy.

When the match resumed in the evening in front of a socially-distanced crowd of 300 spectators, who paid £132 (£173/€146) to attend the final session, O'Sullivan needed just one frame and ten minutes of play to complete the win.

O'Sullivan concluded the match with a break of 96, running out of position on the black, which he subsequently miscued, as he aimed to finish with a century.

The two players spoke at length to each other immediately after the final frame.

They were then interviewed in the arena before picking up their respective prizes.

"I will not beat myself up about my performance," said Wilson.

"It is a dream come true to play the greatest player of all time in the final.

"He was amazing throughout and was awesome in the third session."

Before picking up the trophy, O'Sullivan said: "I don't think about titles.

"I play for the fun of the game, and it is nice to live the dream.

"Coming here I felt good but I did not expect to win."

On his opponent, O'Sullivan said: "Kyren will win the World Championship one day - his time will come."