Eurovision poll predicts Norway victory

The tension backstage is mounting as the 25 contestants prepare to give their best performance in tonight's Eurovision Song Contest that kicks off at 9 p.m. CET.

Chiara, Malta's entry, was in a relaxed and confident mood before hitting the stage for the third and final dress rehearsal earlier this afternoon.

"I think I do this better every time. When I prepare to go on stage I have to believe I can do it," she said.

Malta's producer Munro Forbes was tonight happy that the European Broadcasting Union had conceded to their requests for better camera shots.

Chiara is eager to win, but this year the competition has been a challenge.

Predicting the winner is not easy, but the Big Poll 2009, which rightly guessed 19 of the 20 semi-finalists and was conducted by esctoday.com, is predicting a victory for Norway's Alexander Rybak.The 23-year-old, who wrote his song Fairytale, was the bookmakers' favourite from the very start.

More than 150,000 predictions were cast and Malta does not feature among its top 10, which include Turkey, Greece, Azerbaijan, Iceland, Bosnia Herzegovina, the UK, Ukraine, France, and Estonia.

There is nothing more now than to sit tight and hope for the best.