Matt Fagerson was outstanding for Warriors

Tries from Sam Johnson and Ali Price, plus ten points from the boot of Adam Hastings, saw Dave Rennie's side race into a commanding 20-3 lead at the break.

Further tries from Nikola Matawalu and Tommy Seymour after the restart then made the result safe for Glasgow as they finished the regular season at the summit of Conference A with 16 wins.

Warriors will now host the winners of the Semi-Final Qualifier between Ulster and Connacht for the chance to reach the Guinness PRO14 Final in their own city.

Edinburgh started the game knowing they would retain possession of the 1872 Cup no matter the result, having beaten Warriors twice already in the PRO14 this season.

But the stakes were even higher for the meeting at Scotstoun Stadium as Richard Cockerill's side knew they needed at least two points in their quest for Champions Cup rugby next season.

With Benetton already securing the last Final Series spot in Conference B earlier in the day with a victory over Zebre, the best Edinburgh could do was finish in fourth.

They got off to the worse possible start, though, and found themselves 10-0 down inside eight minutes after Johnson score the game's opening try for Warriors.

After Hastings gave his side a 3-0 advantage from the tee, Matawalu beat his tackler before offloading to Johnson, who side-stepped Darcy Graham to go under the sticks.

Former New Zealand U20 captain Simon Hickey got Edinburgh on the scoreboard for the first time, but Glasgow struck back with a sensational counter-attacking move that ended with Stuart Hogg putting Price through for the try.

Hastings once against converted the extras before adding a penalty from around the 10m line on the half-hour mark to give the Conference A leaders 20-3 ahead at the interval.

Edinburgh made an encouraging start to the second half as they battered away at the Glasgow line after the restart, but they were unable to breakthrough the hosts' defence.

Warriors then made the result safe just before the hour mark, with Matawalu crossing in the corner after benefitting from a brilliant long looping pass from Hastings to dot down.

Hastings maintained his excellent form from the kicking tee to add the extras, leaving Edinburgh with a mountain to climb to get the two points they need to pip Scarlets to fourth.

And any faint hopes Edinburgh had of getting something from the game were dashed with a Glasgow score form their won 22 when Hogg latched on to a George Horne kick before feeding Seymour for the fourth try.

Replacement scrumhalf Charlie Shiel stormed down the blind-side and stepped Hastings before offloading to Van der Merwe as Edinburgh grabbed a consolation - but it was too little, too late.

After the match Dave Rennie said being "embarrassed" by Saracens in the Champions Cup motivated Glasgow Warriors over the last few rounds of the PRO14.

They had been knocked out of Europe with a 56-27 loss at Saracens in March.

Talking to BBC Scotland, Rennie said: "It's certainly forced us to have a look at what we're doing..

"It is significant because we were embarrassed. What upset us was we just didn't work hard enough for each other.

"Our leaders have done a great job. We've been better over the last three weeks. Massive defensively and really clinical when we got our opportunities.

"I couldn't be happier. We're missing a lot of men tonight. I think we've got 11 forwards injured.

"There was a bit of edge to our performance. I thought we were really aggressive. There was just really good energy."