Caesar coerced the Senate into making him Dictator for life. This was a step beyond Sulla, who relinquished the dictatorship after three years. However, a strong argument can be made that he needed a permanent position to shield himself permanently from inevitable prosecution after leaving office. He governed as an autocrat, but this was not necessarily exceptional in this period. He made Octavian his personal heir, but he took no steps that I'm aware of to prepare the ground to pass the dictatorship on to a political heir.

The sources I've read refer to him ending the republic or to his intention to end the republic, i.e., establish a permanent autocracy. I'm not, however, aware of any steps he took to permanently change the form of the state to a permanent autocracy. I also haven't read any accounts that make a case that this was his intention based on his actual words or actions or any other observable evidence of his state of mind. Is there any evidence that this actually was his intention?