Rangers moved within two games of ending a three-year exile from the Scottish Premiership after holding off Hibernian in their play-off semi-final at Easter Road.
Two goals up from Wednesday's first leg, the Glasgow side could afford to concede Jason Cummings' late strike in the Leith return and hold on for a 1-0 defeat which sees them through to a final showdown against Motherwell with a 2-1 aggregate success.
Ten years on from celebrating the most dramatic of their 54 top-flight title triumphs in the east end of Edinburgh, Rangers survived 90 tense minutes at the same venue as they took another huge step back towards the top flight.
Hibs, beaten play-off finalists last year, had chances - notably two efforts from striker Dominique Malonga - to put the Light Blues under pressure earlier but will now be locked out of the Premiership for at least another year.
Rangers, though, will hope to complete their promotion push by seeing off the Steelmen, with the first leg against the Premiership's second bottom side scheduled for Ibrox on Thursday.
McCall sprang a surprise ahead of kick-off as he recalled out-of-form skipper Lee McCulloch. The 37-year-old centre-back had not started since his error-strewn display against Falkirk in Rangers' penultimate Championship fixture but returned to replace Nicky Clark.
McCall was hoping the 3-5-2 formation which worked so well the last time his side visited Leith at the end of March would do the trick again.
Hibs manager Alan Stubbs, meanwhile, decided Dylan McGeouch would give the Edinburgh men more energy in midfield as he started in place of Scott Robertson.
Having been limited to just 900 tickets for Wednesday's first leg, Hibs responded in kind by slashing the Rangers travelling support's allocation to just 1,500.
But the atmosphere was just as lively, even with the South Stand half empty.
The Leith faithful had the noise levels spiking inside the first two minutes as they claimed for a penalty when the ball bounced up and hit Dean Shiels' hand but the Northern Irishman knew little about it.
Liam Fontaine then headed over from Scott Allan's corner as the home side produced the kind of frantic start they hoped would leave Rangers quaking.
Cummings made a fool of Marius Zaliukas as he lobbed the ball over his head but could only produce a weak strike.
Cammy Bell hardly had chance to catch breath as McCulloch booted clear after the Rangers goalkeeper got a hand to Liam Craig's shot, before being forced to palm away a David Gray cross just as Cummings sneaked in at the back post.
There was not yet 15 minutes on the clock but the onslaught continued. Cummings could not redirect a Fraser Fyvie shot past Bell while the striker was off-target with another effort after Allan put him in over the top.
But Rangers survived and eventually grabbed a foothold. They even worked themselves a couple of shooting chances which Kenny Miller failed to take.
Haris Vuckic then brushed off Hibs skipper Craig before sweeping in a speculative effort from wide on the right which Mark Oxley pushed away.
Hibs pushed on in the final seconds before the break looking to earn something before the interval but were rebuffed again as Zaliukas intervened to clear another dangerous Allan delivery.
The air was still thick with tension as the second half kicked off but Malonga could have lifted it for Hibs had he not volleyed wide from Craig's perfect cross.
Stubbs then sent for extra strike power as he replaced Craig with Farid El Alagui but it was Malonga who went close again for Hibs, denied agonisingly when Bell clawed away his 25-yard shot.
Rangers' forays forward where becoming rarer and rarer. When they did find themselves in Hibs territory, Vuckic tried to coax a decision from referee John Beaton as he flung himself to the floor when McGeouch slid in, but all he earned was a booking.
The visitors feared a desperate surge would come their way as Beaton added on five minutes of stoppage time.
Hanlon struck a post before Cummings curled a delicious effort into the top corner from 15 yards - but it was all too little and too late for Hibs.
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