Price – also a winner in June’s Nordic Darts Masters – delivered a stellar display in Wollongong to pocket the £20,000 top prize and deny Littler an eighth title in as many months.
The Welshman produced a blistering barrage to seize control of Saturday’s showpiece, storming 4-0 ahead with a 112 average.
Littler had no answer to Price’s sustained brilliance, and although the Warrington wonderkid opened his account in leg six, Price won the next three legs to cap off a darting demolition Down Under.
Price brushed aside Brenton Lloyd in Friday’s first round, before overcoming Australian number one Damon Heta and a resurgent Peter Wright to advance to his third World Series final in as many months.
The 39-year-old recovered from 4-3 adrift to sink birthday boy Heta, and he overturned a 3-0 deficit against Wright, conjuring up a clinical 106 checkout to triumph in a last-leg shoot-out.
Price built on that momentum in the opening exchanges against Littler, reeling off four consecutive legs in 15, 14, 11 and 14 darts to establish control of the contest.
Littller overcame his woes on the outer ring with a 12-darter in leg six, but this failed to spark a stirring fightback, as Price responded with another three-leg burst to take the title.
Littler was bidding to join Phil Taylor and Gary Anderson in claiming a hat-trick of World Series titles in the same calendar year, winning through high-quality ties against Michael Smith and Dimitri Van den Bergh.
The Premier League champion fired in successive 104 averages in the process, following up a 6-4 success against Smith with an epic 7-6 victory against Van den Bergh.
The pair registered 14 maximums between them in a contest littered with quality, but the Belgian paid the price for squandering two match darts in a dramatic decider, succumbing with a 103 average.
Earlier in the day, Van den Bergh also averaged 103 in his quarter-final win over Luke Humphries, defying a brace of ton-plus finishes from the World Champion to run out an emphatic 6-2 winner.
Wright, meanwhile, dumped out last year's winner Rob Cross to advance to his first big stage semi-final in ten months, landing five 180s on his way to a 6-4 win.
Following Price's triumph in Wollongong, the sport's stars will cross the Tasman Sea to New Zealand for the second leg of the World Series' Oceanic double-header next weekend.
The 2024 New Zealand Darts Masters will take place at Hamilton's GLOBOX Arena on August 16-17, as a star-studded 16-player line-up compete for the coveted title across two days of action.
Click here for match stats & results.
2024 Australian Darts Masters
Saturday August 10
Quarter Finals
Luke Littler 6-4 Michael Smith
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-2 Luke Humphries
Peter Wright 6-4 Rob Cross
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Damon Heta
Semi-Finals
Luke Littler 7-6 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Gerwyn Price 7-6 Peter Wright
Final
Gerwyn Price 8-1 Luke Littler