Duncan Laurence, favourite to win since the beginning of this year’s competition with the song “Arcade”, triumphed in both the jury and public vote to win first place with 492 points.
It was a fraught competition where, across the evening, it seemed as though any one of six countries could win. But ultimately Sweden failed to sway the public vote, and the soulful ballad won over John Ludvik’s more upbeat but still emotional number.
Madonna, who performed towards the end of the ceremony, caused one of the biggest controversies of the night with an unscheduled political statement that caused uproar in Tel Aviv.
During the second part of her performance it was revealed that her backing dancers were wearing Israeli and Palestinian flags on the backs of their outfits. Organisers quickly issued a statement saying this was not a planned part of the event.
“In the live broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final, two of Madonna’s dancers briefly displayed the Israeli and Palestinian flags on the back of their outfits,” the statement said.
“This element of the performance was not part of the rehearsals which had been cleared with the EBU and the host broadcaster, KAN. The Eurovision Song Contest is a non-political event and Madonna had been made aware of this.”
Upon learning their score, Iceland also unveiled a scarf bearing the Palestinian flag, which draw both cheers and boos from the live audience.
Other favourites among fans included Norway’s trio KEiiNO and their song “Spirit in the Sky”, Czech Republic’s catchy number “Friend of a Friend”, and San Marino’s loveable entry Serhat with “Say Na Na Na”.
The UK pinned its hopes on 22-year-old Michael Rice this year. The singer performed the song “Bigger Than Us” but ultimately came in last place due to low votes from both the professional juries and the public.
Hello, and welcome to The Independent's Eurovision liveblog for this year's final! I'll be your host for this evening, providing the latest news, commentary, video and images from across the night, along with updates from our Eurovision Correspondent in Tel Aviv, Rob Holley (find him on Twitter @robholley )
This just in from our Middle East correspondent Bel Trew, who's been speaking to people around Tel Aviv to get an idea of how people feel about hosting Eurovision:
Outside of Tel Aviv’s Expo centre which is housing Eurovision a small protest was held organised by “No Pride in Apartheid” an Israeli activist group. As Eurovision visitors and revellers poured into the massive complex for the final, the group chanted “Songs and glitter cannot hide homeland being occupied” while holding up pictures of Gaza and the West Bank.
“We want to expose the truth and fight the idea that this is a normal democratic country. There are daily violations of human rights, there are people under military occupation.,” Omer, 26 an Israeli activist told The Independent. “They are trying to pink-wash and art wash the truth with Eurovision, to use this image of Tel Aviv as an LGBT friendly space while people are killed in Gaza. They forget there is an occupation, that is part of the daily reality of Palestinians that they have pass through checkpoints, that they don’t have passports that they are refugees, they are prisoners of the Israeli state.”
Netta is launching the opening ceremony. In case you hadn't heard, she's the whole reason Eurovision is taking place in Israel this year, after winning last year's final in Lisbon, Portugal with her song "TOY".
Across town at the sprawling Eurovision village over 80 street food stands, several bars and a massive statue of Israeli Eurovision winner Netta are spread across 15-acres of park. There fans flocked to watch the show on massive screens.
The location of the village sparked controversy among some pro-Palestinian protest groups as it lies on Charles Close Park, which they say was built on the ruins of a pre-1948 mostly Arab neighbourhood called al-Manshiyya.
But unperturbed on Saturday, fans from across Europe and Israel, spent the day on the seafront celebrating in the sunshine.
“I’ve been going to Eurovision since 2013 - I’m an accredited fan and really by far this is the best and biggest village I’ve seen. Tel Aviv has made the biggest effort of all the cities,” said Charlie, 30 a solicitor from Manchester in a Union Jack blazer and cape.
“I genuinely think the anti-Israeli sentiment is anti-Semitic," he said of the calls to boycott Eurovision in Israel.
"You don’t see the same boycott calls for countries which are, say, attacking members of the LGBT community. There has been very little about Qatar with the World Cup coming up in a few years, there was muted calls for action over Sochi in Russia.”
“What are they saying about the lives of LGBT people, that they are worth less?” he added.
So Australia is the one to watch tonight, with absolutely one of THE best Eurovision staging efforts we've ever seen. Hopefully you saw Rob's video earlier that reveals exactly how the hell they get them onto the stage in those broom contraptions.
