This victory over the Jambos almost certainly removes any remaining doubts about where the league title is heading.
Yet it looked so promising for Hearts when they took the lead through a goal from Andrius Velicka with 18 minutes to go. The goal was no more than the visitors deserved at that point.
However, this Celtic side never knows when it is beaten and when substitute Jiri Jarosik headed in a Shunsuke Nakamura corner near the end, Hearts' heads appeared to drop.
There was only one team that would go for the three points now. Another Nakamura corner was not cleared, but it fell to Stephen McManus whose mishit shot was turned into his own goal by keeper Craig Gordon.
It was cruel luck on the Scotland keeper who had turned in a superb performance up to that point.
Celtic started brightly and Nakamura's pass found Maciej Zurawski, whose curling shot was palmed out by Gordon at full stretch with Kenny Miller unable to steer the rebound on target.
Hearts then came into the game more and Saulius Mikoliunas should have done better than shoot against keeper Artur Boruc's outstretched leg. Velicka had an even worse miss soon after when he pulled his shot wide with the goal at his mercy.
When Evander Sno conceded possession midway through the second half, Velicka was unlucky to see a dipping shot go just over. However the striker redeemed himself when Neil Lennon and Paul Telfer gave away possession by steering his shot beyond Boruc.
The goal looked too much for Celtic to recover but substitute Jarosik handed them a lifeline with his header.
With the four minutes of injury time nearly over, another Nakamura corner reached McManus, who only half connected with his wild swipe, but Gordon tragically turned the ball into his own net.