Avenging her loss to the Belarusian in the 2023 title decider, Rybakina roared from a service break down in the third set to deny Sabalenka 6-4 4-6 6-4 on Saturday night to add the Open crown to her 2022 Wimbledon trophy.
The fighting victory completed a rare golden double after the big-hitting Kazakh also defeated the top-ranked Sabalenka in last year's prestigious season-ending championship in Saudi Arabia.
After taking out world No.2 Iga Swiatek and the sixth-ranked Jessica Pegula on her charge to the final, Rybakina is the first woman since Naomi Osaka in 2019 to claim the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup with three consecutive wins over top-10 rivals.
"It's hard to find words now," Rybakina said.
"But of course I want to congratulate Aryna for her amazing results for a couple of years.
"I know it's tough, but I just hope that we're going to play many more finals together."
With rain hitting Melbourne for the first time all tournament, the match was played under a closed roof on Rod Laver Arena, creating perfect indoor conditions for the women's game's two heaviest hitters.
Sabalenka and Rybakina were the first duo to joust for the title after contesting the season-ending final showpiece since Martina Hingis beat Lindsay Davenport in 1999.
The championship climax shaped as an intriguing showdown, with neither powerhouse combatant dropping a set en route to the final and Sabalenka shading their head-to-head record 8-6 and boasting a phenomenal 26 wins from her past 27 matches at the Open.
But the queen of Melbourne Park was taking on a fearsome foe who had won 19 of her past 20 matches herself and, among active players, only veteran former world No.1 Venus Williams boasts more wins over Sabalenka than Rybakina.
And the world No.1 was quickly under siege.
With booming groundstrokes, fifth-seeded Rybakina broke Sabalenka in the opening game of the match, then held to love in a clear early statement.
Rybakina was in trouble at 15-40 in the eighth game but fired down four huge serves to hold for 5-3 before coolly closing out the set.
The first woman since Hingis in 2002 to appear in at least four straight AO finals, Sabalenka had several opportunities to hit back early in the second set but squandered three break points in a 10-minute second game.
Sabalenka finally nabbed her first break of the match with Rybakina serving to stay in the second set at 4-5, the top seed levelling the contest after an hour and 25 minutes.
Fittingly, the first two women to clash in the final without having lost a set in the tournament since Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin in 2008 headed into a decider.
Sabalenka appeared on course for victory after surging to a 3-0 lead, only to dump a backhand into the net to allow Rybakina back on serve.
The lapse led to the world No.1 mentally unravelling as the Kazakh reeled off four straight games and sealed victory with an ace on her first match point after two hours and 18 minutes.
As well as walking off with the trophy, Rybakina pocketed a monster cheque for $4.15 million and can look forward to a rankings rise to world No.3 on Monday.
While the 26-year-old rejoiced in becoming a dual grand slam champion, Sabalenka was left to digest suffering back-to-back finals defeats in Melbourne after also losing last year's title decider to Madison Keys.
But she was gracious in defeat.
"I'm really speechless right now," Sabalenka said.
"I want to start with Elena. I want to congratulate you on an incredible run, incredible tennis and on such an incredible achievement.
"Of course, thank you to my team for always being there, for enjoying me losing finals but also sometimes we win them.
"So let's hope for the best. Let's hope that next year Daphne is going to be ours."
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