The Australian vessel crossed the finish line at around 2:30 Wednesday morning, with an official time of one day, 13 hours, 31 minutes and 20 seconds.
Strong winds made for a fast finish to this year's Sydney-to-Hobart, with Perpetual Loyal smashing the race record by almost five hours when it crossed the line.
Skipper Anthony Bell savoured the victory.
"This is one for the true believers. We came together as a team really sensibly this year. We picked the right people for the boat. We worked on the boat. So many people believed in it, wanted us to keep going, so we came back and had another shot at it, and it paid off."
Bell says the key to the win was a crew that worked well together.
"The calmness and coolness on our boat was the thing that got us through. The speciality of two or three particularly good people in their fields, able to give us advice and calmly make some decisions out there that actually paid off for us, was really important and I think the camaraderie and the belief, you know, we had nothing to lose. That was the most important part, we turned up, I don't think anyone expected us to do well in this race - the bookies certainly didn't."
One member of Bell's crew, Olympian Tom Slingsby, told the ABC clinching line honours now gives him bragging honours.
"I've always said that I'd won Olympic gold medal, world titles, an America's Cup and I'd come back to Australia and chat with my mates and the first question they asked if I say I'm a sailor is 'have you won the Sydney to Hobart?' and when I say no it's like they roll their eyes and think I'm not actually a sailor but finally now I can tell them that I have won the Sydney to Hobart and, yeah, it definitely goes up there high, especially breaking the race record."
New Zealand's Giacomo was second across the line while the Hong Kong supermaxi Scallywag came in third.
Giacomo is in contention for handicap honours which goes to the vessel that performs best according to its size.
Owner and skipper Jim Delegat says his crew had the right strategy to make the most of the weather conditions.
"We figured that for the first 18 to 20 hours it was our race. We went out wide, we picked the weather right, it gave us the opportunity to come in. We were about 8 or 10 miles behind (Perpetual) Loyal earlier in the race there but we had no designs because they were very slippery and at the moment the breeze picked up we all got away."
Eight-time winner of the Sydney-to-Hobart, Wild Oats XI, had to retire from the race on Tuesday with hydraulic problems that immobilised its keel.
Skipper Mark Richards told the ABC it was an unexpected mechanical failure.
"It's just one of those things that's out of your hands, you know. It's an equipment sport, they're big powerful machines and the loads on these boats, especially the keel areas are huge and we were bouncing over some pretty big waves and, you know, whether it's a bit of fatigue, the part that failed isn't that old."
Since its inception in 1945, the Sydney-to-Hobart has become one of Australia's great sporting spectacles and while conditions proved favourable this year, the weather can sometimes be treacherous.
In 1998, six people died, five vessels sank and 55 sailors had to be rescued during a wild storm over the Tasman Sea.
