In the end, a draw was a fair result, but the Terrors had to thank a truly wonderful performance of goalkeeper Grzegorz Szamotulski, who was in total command of his area.
In the early sparring, Hibs should have opened the scoring when Szamotulski made his only mistake fluffing a clearance in the wet conditions leaving Merouane Zemmama with the easiest of chances to round the keeper.
Fortunately for the Pole, he redeemed himself with a fine stop at the feet of the little Moroccan.
United gradually grabbed the ascendancy, with Barry Robson unlucky striking two long-range efforts around the 20-minute mark, both narrowly wide. Then there was a heart-stopping moment for the Hibs bench as the keeper dropped a Sean Dillon cross at the feet of Robson but he recovered well.
As the Hibs midfield tried to restore their superiority, Guillaume Beuzelin produced a magical chip for Steven Fletcher to run towards goal, however the striker was outpaced by the in-form keeper and he punched the ball for Lee Wilkie to clear to safety.
It was the Pole again who foiled the visitors with a tremendous double save in the 55th minute diving low on both counts with strong hands to prevent the net bursting from a rasping shot from Brian Kerr, then an equally hard follow-up from Fletcher.
As the game opened up, Willo Flood was the cardinal sinner in the 57th minute missing an open goal when he slotted Christian Kalvenes' cross past the post.
Then at the other end, Kerr's shot was turned against his own bar by the relieved Wilkie. And Szamotulski was the hero again with a brilliant one-handed save from Abdessalam Benjelloun after a superb run from Fletcher.
If nothing else the game had turned into a ping-pong match. Kevin McCann was on hand to clear off the line when Noel Hunt stabbed the ball forward as Hibs keeper Yves Makaba-Makalamby struggled.
As the pendulum swung, man of the match Szamotulski yet again pulled off a great save from Fletcher's bullet of a header and then Benjelloun's heavily deflected shot.
But United finished with a flourish with the Hibees keeper diving brilliantly to clasp Hunt's flicked header in the final minute when it seemed a certain winner.