In an Oscars that went largely as everyone expected, the biggest - the only - surprise of the night: Sean Penn won Best Actor.
Despite endless predictions that Mickey Rourke was a lock for his role in The Wrestler , it was Penn's performance as doomed politician Harvey Milk that took home the gold.
Otherwise, events mostly stayed to the Ricky Gervais-doctored script - Slumdog Millionaire took eight awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Danny Boyle.
Kate Winslet finally bagged her Best Actress gong on a sixth attempt for her performance in The Reader , while Penelope Cruz took home Best Supporting Actress for Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona .
There was a note of sadness as Heath Ledger's family accepted his widely expected posthumous Dark Knight Best Supporting Actor award.
Elsewhere, there was music. There was laughter. There was Hugh Jackman singing and dancing...
It wasn't a perfect ceremony - not all the producers' planned 'surprises' hit the mark - and it ran nearly half an hour long. Still, for the notoriously indulgent Oscars, that's not bad going.
We'll have a full, blow-by-blow report online soon. For now, the winners in full...
Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire
Director
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant, Milk
WINNER: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Actor
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
WINNER: Sean Penn, Milk
Actress
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
WINNER: Kate Winslet, The Reader
Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road
WINNER: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, Doubt
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
WINNER: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Animated Feature
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WINNER: WALL-E
Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, screenplay by Eric Roth, screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
Doubt, written by John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon, screenplay by Peter Morgan
The Reader, screenplay by David Hare
WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire, screenplay by Simon Beaufoy
Original Screenplay
Frozen River, written by Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky, written by Mike Leigh
In Bruges, written by Martin McDonagh
WALL-E, screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon; original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter
WINNER: Milk, written by Dustin Lance Black
Art Direction
Changeling, James J. Murakami; set decoration: Gary Fettis
The Dark Knight, Nathan Crowley; set decoration: Peter Lando
The Duchess, Michael Carlin; set decoration: Rebecca Alleway
Revolutionary Road, Kristi Zea; set decoration: Debra Schutt
WINNER: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Donald Graham Burt; set decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
Cinematography
Changeling, Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight, Wally Pfister
The Reader, Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire, Anthony Dod Mantle
Costume Design
Australia, Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Jacqueline West
Milk, Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road, Albert Wolsky
WINNER: The Duchess, Michael O'Connor
Documentary Feature
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Trouble the Water
WINNER: Man on Wire
Documentary Short
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
The Witness -- From the Balcony of Room 306
WINNER: Smile Pinki
Film Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
The Dark Knight, Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon, Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
Milk, Elliot Graham
WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire, Chris Dickens
Foreign Language Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex, Germany
The Class, France
Revanche, Austria
Waltz with Bashir, Israel
WINNER: Departures, Japan
Make-Up
The Dark Knight, John Caglione Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan
Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz
WINNER: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Greg Cannom
Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alexandre Desplat
Defiance, James Newton Howard
Milk, Danny Elfman
WALL-E, Thomas Newman
WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman
Original Song
'Down to Earth' from WALL-E, music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, lyrics by Peter Gabriel
'O Saya' from Slumdog Millionaire, music and lyrics by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam
WINNER: 'Jai Ho' from Slumdog Millionaire, music by A.R. Rahman, lyrics by Gulzar
Animated Short
Lavatory -- Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up
WINNER: La Maison en Petits Cubes
Live-Action Short
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
WINNER: Spielzeugland
Sound Editing
Iron Man, Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
Slumdog Millionaire, Glenn Freemantle and Tom Sayers
WALL-E, Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
Wanted, Wylie Stateman
WINNER: The Dark Knight, Richard King
Sound Mixing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
The Dark Knight, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
WALL-E, Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
Wanted, Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt
WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire, Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
Visual Effects
The Dark Knight, Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
Iron Man, John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan
WINNER: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
Happy with the winners? What did you think of the ceremony? UK folk - tell us about your all-nighter/Oscar party...
