The Brumbies will host the Super Rugby AU grand final in Canberra after shaking off a gritty Western Force to earn a 31-14 victory in the penultimate round on Friday night.
The Brumbies moved to 28 competition points on the back of the win to secure the decider, seven points clear of nearest rivals Queensland, who have a bye this round, with only a maximum of five points on offer in the final regular match.
The leading side will advance straight through to host the grand final on Sept 19 against the winner of the qualifying final between the second and third placed teams the week prior.
While the Brumbies may have clinched the result they were after, they were made to work for it by the West Australian side who scored first in the eighth minute through Fergus Lee-Warner.
The home side really only broke free in the 65th minute when replacement back Len Ikitau scored for a 22-14 lead, with Andy Muirhead crossing late to secure a bonus point.
The Brumbies led 10-7 at halftime, with classy Wallabies halfback Nic White a stand-out after replacing Joe Powell early in the second half.
White fired a pass for a 50-minute try to flanker Will Miller and then put Ikitau across when he took control with a quick tap before finding his man, with the Force defence caught short.
Amy Perrett, the first female to referee a Super Rugby match, had her hands full in the first half when the Brumbies had two tries disallowed within two minutes for a knock-on and then obstruction.
They got third time lucky four minutes later through Tom Wright to trail 5-7 and edged ahead by five just before halftime when fullback Tom Banks scored his first try of the Super Rugby AU.