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Ukraine aims for Eurovision glory Vote-count begins at Eurovision
(about 22 hours later)
Twenty-four nations will compete in Helsinki on Saturday to win this year's Eurovision Song Contest. The 24 acts taking part in this year's Eurovision Song Contest have completed their performances in Helsinki, with the hour-long voting process under way.
Eastern European states dominate the finals after they scored a near clean sweep in Thursday's semi-finals. Ukrainian drag queen Verka Serdyuchka has been the bookies' favourite so far.
Ukrainian drag queen Verka Serdyuchka is the bookies' favourite, just ahead of Marija Serifovic from Serbia. The estimated 100 million TV viewers saw a wide mix of music - folk from Ireland, rock from Finland and Sweden, and old-fashioned pop by UK act Scooch.
The annual event will be broadcast across Europe from 2000 BST, with millions of viewers voting by phone and text message to decide the winner. The Finnish capital has embraced the competition, with thousands of fans watching on big screens in the city.
Thousands of fans are crowding into Helsinki where huge screens have been set up in the city centre and over 350 supporting events are planned. More than 350 supporting events were planned as part of the Eurovision "fever".
'Big four' Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Leppilampi were the show's hostsBefore the show, Scooch - singing Flying the Flag - said it would be "really difficult" to follow the Ukrainian favourite.
Thursday's finalists, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, FYR Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey, perform alongside the top 10 acts from last year's final in Athens. "We're not really sure what the crowd's reaction is like because we've got earpieces in, but it seemed to be quite good during this afternoon's rehearsal," group member Russ Spencer told the BBC News website.
They are joined by the UK, Germany, France and Spain - the four biggest financial contributors to the singing contest, now in its 52nd year. The winner will be announced at about 2300 BST (2200 GMT) on Saturday.
Last year the contest was won by Finnish monster rock group Lordi with their song Hard Rock Hallelujah. Last year the contest was won by Finnish monster rock group Lordi with their song Hard Rock Hallelujah, which they performed at the start of the show.
Ireland is the most successful nation since the competition began in 1956, with seven wins. Fans gathered in the centre of Helsinki to watch on big screensTheir victory ensured that the 2007 event would be staged in Helsinki, with Finland's largest ice hockey stadium selected as the venue.
Lead singer Tomi Putaansuu said last year that his band had "changed the face of Eurovision forever".
Some early favourites among Eurovision fans dropped out in the qualifying rounds, however.
These included a Latin-beat dance track from Norway, Swiss DJ Bobo's neo-Gothic vampire song and Denmark's drag artist Drama Queen.