"We're gonna win the league" reverberated from the travelling supporters after a sixth successive Premier League victory maintained Liverpool's pursuit of a first title since 1990 and offered further evidence of their staggering firepower and ability to score goals almost at will.
Trailing 2-1 at one stage, Liverpool responded in emphatic fashion through a hat-trick from Luis Suárez, who took his tally for the season to 28 in 25 appearances, two more from Martin Skrtel and another for Daniel Sturridge.
Cardiff, who remain second from bottom, were powerless to stop the Liverpool onslaught. Brendan Rodgers's side have racked up 24 goals across those last six league fixtures.
The one disappointment for the Liverpool manager will be the defensive shortcomings that continue to cast a slight shadow over his side's title credentials. Cardiff, who have struggled for goals all season – Suárez alone has plundered more than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's entire squad – managed to score three times and on each occasion Liverpool's defending left much to be desired, starting with the manner in which they fell behind in the fourth minute.
Joe Allen's wayward pass, after he had dispossessed Fábio Da Silva close to the touchline and deep inside the Liverpool half, failed to find Jon Flanagan. Fraizer Campbell was quick to capitalise and, to his credit had the presence of mind to cut the ball back to Jordan Mutch, who drilled a low-left footed shot from just inside the area that skidded beyond Simon Mignolet and into the bottom corner for the first of his two goals.
Liverpool's response was swift. After a sustained period of possession inside the Cardiff half, Philippe Coutinho fed Jordan Henderson and the England international slid a beautifully weighted pass inside Declan John, the Cardiff left-back, and into the path of the rampaging Glen Johnson.
With Suárez totally unmarked in the middle, Johnson had the simple task of picking out the striker with a low centre that was turned in with the minimum of fuss at the near post.
At that stage Cardiff were in no mood to surrender on and off the pitch. On 19 minutes 27 seconds – 1927 was the year that the Welsh club won the FA Cup – the home supporters, in an organised protest, let Vincent Tan know what they think about the owner's decision to change the colours from blue to red. "We'll always be blue" and "Are you watching Vincent Tan" chanted the home fans while holding aloft scarves bearing the club's traditional colours.
On the pitch Liverpool continued to dominate possession but there was a defensive vulnerability about the visitors, in particular on their left flank, that Cardiff were quick to expose. When Mutch picked up possession just inside the Liverpool half, Flanagan seemed too preoccupied with Fabio outside of him, inviting the Cardiff midfielder to slide a pass into the space that opened up in the inside right channel, where Daniel Agger was left one-on-one with Campbell. There was only going to be one winner as Campbell skipped past the Dane before planting a left-footed shot beyond Mignolet.
There was a sense, though, that it was a matter of time before Liverpool struck again and so it proved four minutes before the interval. Coutinho was given too much time and space to deliver a cross from the right that Skrtel, getting ahead of Juan Cala, volleyed home from the edge of the six-yard box.
Liverpool were back in business and shortly after the restart they were ahead for the first time. It was a controversial goal from Cardiff's point of view – Mutch and Kevin Théophile-Catherine were both off the pitch at the time, after Neil Swarbrick, the referee, had ordered them to leave the field after receiving treatment following a Suárez free-kick. When Coutinho swung in a corner from the right, Skrtel was once again in the right place at the right time, the defender's glancing header finding the far corner.
Within six minutes Liverpool had a fourth, Sturridge's backheel dispatched by Suárez, whose left-footed shot from no more than eight yards gave Marshall no chance. The roles were reversed for Liverpool's fifth, when Johnson's long diagonal pass invited Suárez to run off the back of Steven Caulker. Suárez looked up before crossing for Sturridge to tap in from just inside the six-yard box.
Cardiff gave the scoreline a more respectable look when Mutch, with no Liverpool defender anywhere near him, nodded in Kenwyne Jones's header.
Suárez, however, was not finished. Sprinting clear, after shrugging off Cala, the Liverpool striker beat Marshall to cap off another remarkable performance.