A needless red card for striker Edgaras Jankauskas left the managerless visitors vulnerable, and two late goals from Guillaume Beuzelin and Garry O'Connor - the first a tap-in, the second a low drive from 12 yards - gave Hibs revenge for their 4-0 derby defeat back in August.
As expected there was no settling in period as both teams went for it from the start. Hearts forward Michal Pospisil had an early shot blocked and O'Connor headed wide for Hibs.
The two most exciting players on view - Derek Riordan and Rudi Skacel - soon began to get involved with Riordan caught just offside after escaping his markers, and Skacel's magical left foot forcing an acrobatic one-handed stop from Zbigniew Malkowski. Despite being closely watched, Skacel fired in two other long- range missiles which the keeper managed to repel.
Hibs created a good chance after 18 minutes when Riordan's deep cross found O'Connor at the back post, but the big man was over stretching and shot wide.
Brazilian midfielder Samuel Almeida Camazzola was a whisker away from the opener with a low right footer, and although the visitors continued to press a dazzling run and shot from Riordan and a scrambled effort by Beuzelin both threatened the away goal.
Hearts' Paul Hartley missed an excellent opportunity early in the second half following a clever reverse pass from Skace,l but the departure of Jankauskas when he picked up his second yellow card for an idiotic push on Scott Brown killed off any hopes that Hearts had of taking more than a single point.