Eddie Howe's team, which also thrashed Leicester City 4-0 last week before making the Carabao Cup semi-finals by overcoming Brentford in midweek, led inside just 25 seconds courtesy of Isak's volley.

Jacob Murphy, whose driving run had helped tee up the opener, powered in a second shortly after the half-hour mark, then Isak punished some terrible play from Ipswich to make it 3-0 before the break.

Arijanet Muric passed to Jens Cajuste under pressure in his own area, and when the Ipswich man was dispossessed by Bruno Guimaraes, Isak was left with a simple finish.

Murphy then produced one of the assists of the season for Isak's hat-trick goal early in the second half, his brilliant backheel picking out the striker for a prodded finish.

Guimaraes headed against the post and Dan Burn saw a late strike chalked off for offside, with Newcastle's jubilant travelling fans having to settle for four goals.

The convincing win takes Newcastle seventh in the Premier League table. Ipswich stays 18th.

 Howe was full of praise for his attackers after the game.

"Absolutely delighted with the players and what they've given this week, it's been a really big week for us," he said.

"Getting through to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup was one of our big aims and our league form needed to improve, so it's brilliant to get back-to-back wins.

"We're just constantly trying to tweak things and trying to improve, there are a number of little things to upturn our form.

"Our creative play has been back to what it has always been, free-scoring and looking like we can create at any time."

Isak led the line brilliantly at Portman Road, netting just the second Premier League hat-trick by a Swedish player, after Arsenal's Freddie Ljungberg versus Sunderland in May 2003.

"There's no doubting his quality," Howe said of Isak.

"We just needed to get the framework of the team right to give him the opportunity to score. He has really responded well.

"The goals today just show his class and coolness in front of goal. With his speed and his technical ability, he has a bit of everything.

"The plan is that Sandro [Tonali] plays a little bit deeper than Joe Willock and Bruno [Guimaraes], but they're still given freedom to express themselves and to move.

"It's getting that balance right between the freedom and the structure, and I think they got the balance perfect."

Ipswich Town boss McKenna admitted the result is another indicator of the gap between his squad and the required Premier League level.

"It's a difficult day for us, the opponent was strong, and they scored a goal in the first seconds, which makes it difficult," he said.

"We had moments in the first half where we had the ball, and managed to play through them, but overall, we weren't able to stop their attacking threats. They had too much for us.

"I don't think our game management was good enough. They are a very good side, and we needed to show more resilience and stay in the game until half-time and keep it tight. We didn't recognise the state of the game well enough and didn't make enough good decisions to stay in the game and attack the second half.

"There were opportunities for us, and we got into good positions, but it was mostly about needing to show the right characteristics in the second half, we needed to show a better level of organisation and resilience.

"We know how well we have been doing to be competitive," McKenna added. "It's a huge, huge jump for the group, and we don't have to be far off for games to run away from us. We were off our level.

"We just need to take each game as it comes. If there is anything we can take from [this game] to make us stronger, we will. [This kind of result] has not happened to us much this season."