If Andy Murray has his way, and on his performances both this weekend and for the past five years, he undoubtedly deserves to, then Britain’s first Davis Cup semi-final in 34 years will return to Glasgow in September.

Britain’s 3-1 victory over France, who went into the weekend as the favourites to win the competition, means they will take on Australia the week after the US Open for a place in the final, a stage they last reached in 1978.

And Murray, who dug as deep as he has ever done to clinch a four-set win over Gilles Simon yesterday to seal victory, believes Glasgow would be the ideal fit.

“I just want to play in the best possible venue where we get the most people in there,” he said, having battled through mental and physical exhaustion to win his third match of the weekend.

“I would imagine at that time of year it has to be indoors for sure, so you expect a great atmosphere there.

“It doesn’t matter where the tie is played, it’s just about getting the crowd into it and obviously when we played in Glasgow this year the atmosphere was incredible.

“You could say they deserve it because of how great a job they did there. I think they lifted everyone.

“Wardy (James Ward) played a great match there against (John) Isner. Dom (Inglot) and Jamie (Murray) were fantastic in the doubles against the Bryans and the crowd got right into it as well. It was a good venue.”

Anyone who ever questioned what this competition means to Murray will surely have changed their minds after seeing him sit, head in hands, fighting back the tears at the end of his 4-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over world No.11 Simon, who had threatened to rip up the script when he led by a set and 4-2.

When Murray broke back, he had the momentum but at 4-1 in the tiebreak, with two mini-breaks in his favour, Simon had a two-sets to love lead in his sights.

That was when Murray, encouraged by another raucous crowd – certainly by Queen’s Club’s standards – found something inside himself, yet again, storming back to win the tiebreak 7-5 and level the match.

Simon had already shrugged off a nasty fall in the first set when he slipped and hurt his right knee, the slippery court proving difficult for both men for a third straight day.

Murray broke immediately at the start of the third set and again to lead 3-0 and though he gave one of them back, he held another close service game for 4-2 and broke again to win the set with a perfect topspin lob that landed on the baseline.

Simon slipped again in the second game of the fourth set and this time it was crucial as Murray’s return earned the break for 2-0.

The Frenchman struggled from that point on and Murray ran away with a victory clinched when Simon sent a backhand wide, the Scot throwing his arms in the air in a mixture of joy, relief and exhaustion.

“There are certain matches and certain situations that mean a lot to you,” Murray said. “It’s a lot easier to fight your hardest because Davis Cup means a lot to everyone. I knew it was an important match today and in that situation I was trying to fight.

“I was getting frustrated but when I was speaking to Leon (Smith, the captain) on the side I was just saying: “I want to win the match.” I didn't care how I played, I just tried to get through it and I don’t know where that comes from.”

Coming so soon after his semi-final defeat by Roger Federer at Wimbledon, Murray’s performance across the whole weekend was remarkable, not least because he has been carrying this team almost on his own ever since the retirement of Tim Henman in 2007.

Five years after they played Turkey at Eastbourne in a match they had to win in order to avoid going down to the lowest level of the competition, Britain stand one win away from making the final for the first time since 1978.

It’s a remarkable achievement. In the minutes after the match, Murray admitted the team were “punching above their weight” and when he reflected later on the magnitude of the win, he said it was right up there with his many achievements.

“When you look at history, you see how long it’s been since we have been there, it gives you an idea of how difficult a thing it is to do,” he said.

“We also went thought a period where we had Tim and Greg (Rusedski) who were two top 10 players and we never won a World Group match so that shows you how difficult it is to do.

"To win a couple in a row is fantastic. To go into the match in September with an opportunity there is fantastic. It’s a great achievement for everybody.”

In theory, a World Group semi-final – Belgium take on Argentina in the other one – has to have a venue that can seat 8,000 or more people.

The Emirates Arena in Glasgow seats 7,000 but there is scope in the rules to make an exception, if the ITF committee can be convinced they’ve tried hard for an alternative.

Wherever it is, it won’t be easy against an Australia side that could include Nick Kyrgios, Thanasi Kokkinakis, perhaps Bernard Tomic and the old-stager, Lleyton Hewitt, who rescued them in their 3-2 win over Kazakhstan at the weekend.