Eurovision gears up for grand final

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Conchita Wurst, who won the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest for Austria, performs on stage during a dress rehearsal (AP)

This year's contest takes place at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria.

It is being hosted by Austrian trio Mirjam Weichselbraun, Alice Tumler and Arabella Kiesbauer, with last year's victor Conchita Wurst presenting the coverage from the green room with contestants backstage.

There are 27 finalists this year - first up is Slovenia and the final act of the night is Italy.

The UK's entry this year comes from Electro Velvet and is called Still In Love With You - watch out for the duo near the beginning of the show as they are fifth on stage.

The finalists are made up of those who have qualified through the semi-finals, the big five who get an automatic pass for providing the most funding, last year's winner and this year, a special guest.

Last year's winner was Austria, while the special guest is Australia and the big five are the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

This year's semi-final winners are: Armenia, Belgium, Greece, Estonia, Serbia, Hungary, Russia, Albania, Romania, Georgia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Norway, Israel, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Sweden, Cyprus, Slovenia and Poland.

In 2004 the semi-final round came in to whittle down the final numbers as there was not space for every country to compete.

Notable absentees this year include Ireland, who despite being the competition's most successful country with seven wins under their belt, failed to qualify in the second semi-final.

Also failing to make it were Moldova, who gave it their all in skimpy latex police outfits; Finland, whose punk rock act all have learning disabilities and seemed to have won over the audience; and San Marino, who despite being terrible, had a hugely entertaining routine.

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Others bowing out were the Netherlands, Macedonia, Belarus, Denmark, Malta, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Iceland and Switzerland.

Eurovision can be unpredictable and victory could potentially be anyone's on the night, but there are some front runners and the notorious bloc voting system still prevails.

Serbia's entry from Bojana Stamenov, Beauty Never Lies, was hotly tipped to win after the first semi-final, thanks to its positive body image message, belting vocals and an unexpected dance break.