For starters, a filmed opening montage showcases Austria’s majestic scenery as a paper boat makes its way to Vienna, a reference to 2025 Eurovision winner JJ’s storm-tossed performance of “Wasted Love”.

Then JJ will return to the Eurovision stage, singing live during an Olympics-style flag parade of the 25 finalists.

It’s the time we’ve all been waiting for, the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 has begun!

There’s 25 acts to get through, one by one — buckle up and grab your snacks.

Earlier this week, we spoke to University of Southern Queensland associate professor Jess Carniel, widely regarded as Australia’s leading Eurovision expert, about this year’s competition.

Carniel says the boycott from Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain is “pretty significant”.

“It’s the 70th anniversary of the song contest and they have lost one of the Big Five — note the awkwardness every time the “Big Four” are mentioned this year,” she said.

“They have also lost the Netherlands, which is not only another significant financial contributor but also had been in the contest since its beginning in 1956.”

Although there are significant political implications, Eurovision’s organiser, the EBU, is likely more concerned with the impact on the bottom line.

“Boycotts and withdrawals mean fewer fees and fewer viewers, although the latter is perhaps less impactful in the age of the internet,” Carniel said.

Moving forward, Carniel believes the EBU and Eurovision need to find a way to “reconcile its nonpolitical stance against the fact that everything is political and that politics matters to their stakeholders”.

Depending on who you talk to, the running order position can be instrumental in a country’s success…or failure.

Here’s how things will unfold this evening:

1. Denmark
2. Germany
3. Israel
4. Belgium
5. Albania
6. Greece
7. Ukraine
8. Australia
9. Serbia
10. Malta
11. Czechia
12. Bulgaria
13. Croatia
14. United Kingdom
15. France
16. Moldova
17. Finland
18. Poland
19. Lithuania
20. Sweden
21. Cyprus
22. Italy
23. Norway
24. Romania
25. Austria

For the first time in three years, Australia is through to the Eurovision grand final!

Delta Goodrem’s performance of her new song Eclipse stunned viewers in Australia and across Europe, with comments on social media quickly calling for her to be crowned the winner at today’s final.

Eurovisionworld, which has averaged the odds from multiple betting sites, placed Goodrem with the second-highest chance of winning.

On Sunday morning, it listed Australia with a 24 per cent chance of victory, ahead of Bulgaria’s 7 per cent.

However, Finland remained the firm favourite with a 40 per cent chance.

Five countries are boycotting this year’s contest over the European Broadcasting Union’s decision to let Israel take part.

They are: Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain.

Tensions have grown over Israel’s participation in the contest in recent years because of the war in Gaza.

Four people were thrown out of this year’s first semifinal, which saw attempts to disrupt Israel’s performance, organisers said.

As 28-year-old Israeli singer Noam Bettan began his performance of “Michelle” during the live show, a protester could be heard shouting “Stop, stop the genocide”, and “Free, free Palestine”.

During the 2025 final in Switzerland, two people attempted to storm the stage and throw paint over Israel’s contestant, Yuval Raphael. They were stopped by crew members and later arrested.

Ahead of the final, more than 70 former Eurovision contestants signed an open letter demanding that Israel’s public broadcaster KAN be banned, alleging that it was “complicit in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza”.

A number of countries also raised concerns after Raphael came top of the public vote in 2025, finishing second overall after jury votes were taken into consideration.

Reports suggested that an Israeli government agency had paid for adverts and used state social media accounts to encourage people to vote for its entry.

Two hosts will be taking us through this year’s grand final.

Victoria Swarovski is a TV presenter, entrepreneur, model, designer and singer.

Michael Ostrowski is an actor, as well as being a popular TV presenter.

Drag queen Courtney Act will present Australia’s coverage via SBS for a second time and will be enjoined by the charismatic, keytar-wielding frontman Danny Estrin of Perth “synthsational” prog-metal outfit Voyager.

Australian audiences will remember his blend of soaring vocals, retro flair and metal precision from the band’s larger-than-life turn representing the country at the 2023 contest.

Prepare to dance your socks off — it’s Eurovision time, baby!

Good morning to all you Eurovision fans who have woken up cold, before sunrise to watch all the action from Vienna, Austria.

After two tough, audience-voted semifinals, we have our 25 countries that will be battling out for the 2026 Eurovision crown.

The hopefuls will be looking to add their names to the winner’s roll that includes the likes of ABBA, Loreen, Nemo, Måneskin and last year’s winner, JJ.

And, of course, we have ballad queen Delta Goodrem representing Australia!

Myself and fellow blogger Rudi Maxwell are here to give you all the updates in real-time.

BRING IT ON!

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