All about Eurovision 2018 Grand Final

The 63rd edition of Eurovision Song Contest ends tonight! 26 songs will compete, and after 3,5 hours of music, performances, entertainment and excitement, we know the winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2018.

The show starts at 21:00 CEST, live from Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal. Hosts are Filomena Cautela, Sílvia Alberto, Daniela Ruah and Catarina Furtado. The running order has been decided by the producer (Portuguese broadcaster RTP) based on a draw.

The qualified countries are:

• Top-10 from Semi-final 1
• Top-10 from Semi-final 2
• Host (Portugal), Big-5 (France, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy)

How to watch Eurovision 2018:

• TV: All participating countries will broadcast the show
• YouTube

Lineup Eurovision 2018 Grand Final

Opening

Welcome to Lisbon. The opening of the Grand Final of Eurovision Song Contest 2018 is the same as in the semi-finals: We are on the ocean in rough sea becoming calm. All Aboard! Flying over the ocean and the famous bridges leading to Lisbon city. The next minutes we will see every tourist attractions in Lisbon, the old city, castles, trams, tiles on the houses... All the things that make Lisbon so beautiful.

The camera is panning over the arena – All Aboard! – Inside the arena now. 16 players of the traditional Portuguese guitarra (guitarra portuguesa) fill the stage and catwalk. They play a traditional Fado, "Loucura" with the magnificent fado singer Ana Moura on one of the bridges. Another song "Barco Negro" is performed by Mariza. The stage and catwalk are filled with drummers.

The Portuguese DJ team of Stereossauro and DJ Ride known as the Beatbombers performs on a platform on the stage. This is the start of the flag parade. A voice says:

Ladies & Gentlemen. Live from Lisbon. Welcome to the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018!

All the finalists' flags are on the catwalk brought by seamen. Each country is introduced along with their flag. They cross one of the bridges and walk to the greenroom.

The four hosts of Eurovision 2018 Filomena Cautela, Sílvia Alberto, Daniela Ruah & Catarina Furtado welcome us:

Good evening Europe – Good morning Australia!

The traditional voting instructions are given in English and French. Is everything ready? Cameras? Sound? Lights? Wind machine?

Let the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 begin!

Interval Acts

After the last performance the voting lines are open, and the first recap is shown.

The next is "Soundtrack of Lisbon" – Branko sings some of the songs from the Portuguese song tradition together with three artists:

• Branko & Sara Tavares: "Ter Peito e Espaço (Branko remix feat. Plutónio)"
• Branko & Dino D'Santiago: "Nova Lisboa"
• Branko & Mayra Andrade: "Reserva Pra Dois"

Recap again, and then a naked man enters the stage with a phone – if you run out of battery. Then another video about Portugal's Eurovision History: "It took Portugal 53 songs to win Eurovision..."

What should the ultimate fan be like? Description of the ultimate Eurovision fan: Flags, Golden Boy tennis shoes, purple pants, Conchita's beard, Jedward's hair, the Suzy Shake (Suzy enter the stage with a 12 points sign).

We'll then see a clip of the winning performance from Junior Eurovision 2017, and the winner Polina Bogusevich sings a bit of Amar Pelos Dois.

Last year's Eurovision winner Salvador Sobral sings "Mano a Mano" and his winning song Amar Pelos Dois together with the Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso.

The evening's last recap, before the countdown: Stop voting now!

Right after the voting has stopped it's time for the jury results.

Jury results – Televoting results – And the winner is...

Voting

The voting procedure will be the same as previous two years. Each country will have two sets of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10 and 12 points to give. One set for each country's jury, and one set for each country's televoting.

• Each of the 43 countries participating in this years Eurovision will vote
• Each country has a national jury who gave one set of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10 and 12 points
• Each country will have televoting which also results in a set of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10 and 12 points
• First the the juries points will be presented individually by a spokesperson from each country
• Secondly the points from televoting will be bundled and given combined
• Televoters and national juries have equal weight in the voting
• The national juries voted yesterday evening (Friday, 11 May) during the second dress-rehearsal
• If two countries have the same points, the best of the two is the song which has obtained points from the highest number of countries. If the tying songs have received points from the same number of countries, the highest number of 12-point scores shall be decisive. If the winner still cannot be determined by this procedure, the number of times ten points have been awarded shall be the deciding factor. If necessary, this method shall continue until account has been taken of the number of times one point has been awarded

Shortly after the Grand Final, the detailed results, voting and points will be revealed.