Australia soars into Eurovision final as UK song debuts

Australia soars into Eurovision final as UK song debutsJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleMark SavageMusic correspondent, Eurovision Song Contest, ViennaGetty ImagesDelta Goodrem celebrated as Australia were voted into the Eurovision Grand FinalPop star Delta Goodrem has dramatically increased Australia's odds of winning the Eurovision Song Contest, after a stunning performance of her power ballad, Eclipse, at Thursday's semi-final.The singer is now second favourite for the competition, and is rapidly closing in Finland, who have long been predicted to lift the trophy.If she succeeds on Saturday, it would be a first for Australia - who joined the contest as a one-off wild card entry in 2015 but quickly became a permanent fixture.Eurovision is phenomenally successful in the country, despite its distance from Europe, with more than a million people regularly tuning in to watch the show. Goodrem, who is known to UK TV fans for her role in the Aussie soap opera Neighbours, is one of the biggest-selling female artists in her home country.She signed her first recording contract at the age of 15 and has scored four number one albums.Speaking to the BBC, she called her Eurovision experience "surprisingly beautiful"."To see people flying the flags for music and being with us has been an awesome thing to see."Getty ImagesGoodrem's performance was largely free of gimmicks, as she sang in front of a crescent moon - but there was a surprise at the endAs well as Goodrem, nine other acts survived the cull at Thursday's semi-final, and will perform again in Vienna on Saturday night.In alphabetical order, the qualifiers were:Albania: Alis - NânAustralia: Delta Goodrem - EclipseBulgaria: Dara - BangarangaCyprus: Antigoni - JallaCzechia: Daniel Zizka - CrossroadsDenmark: Søren Torpegaard Lund - Før Vi Går HjemMalta: Aidan - BellaRomania: Alexandra Căpitănescu - Choke MeUkraine: Leléka - RidnymNorway: Jonas Lovv - Ya Ya YaFive countries -...