After Loreen's victory in Baku, the 2013 Eurovison Song Contest is being held at the Malmö Arena in southern Sweden.

After months and months of waiting and preparation the day has come – the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 begins Saturday night in Malmo at 9:00 pm. Twenty-six acts, starting with France and ending with Ireland, will vie for the chance to win it all – and to bring next year's Eurovision to their home country.

The city of Malmö is ready to show millions of people what it has to offer when the Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast from the city on Saturday. As always, the show promises to be as weird and wonderful as ever, from Ukranian giants, Finns in bridal gowns and a Romanian male singer called Cezar who has quite a falsetto.  

Sweden, who are hosting the competition after Loreen won in Baku last year, are pinning their hopes on Robin Stjernberg and his song "You" but it's Denmark and the Netherlands who are the favourites with bookmakers.

Swedish comedian Petra Mede is hosting the show solo.

Last night saw ten countries proceed from the first semifinal to the Eurovision Song Contest final, which will take place on Saturday in Malmö, Sweden. Ukraine's giant, the Moldovan's growing dress and favourite Denmark all made it. But much of the focus here in Sweden is, of course, mostly on the Swedish entrant, Robin Stjernberg.

Love it or hate it, the Eurovision Song Contest is a huge annual event here in Sweden. And this year it is bigger than ever as this country plays host to the contest after Loreen's victory last year. The city of Malmö is filled with Eurovision-fever as they gear up for the three Eurovision broadcasts on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and yesterday, they held an official opening ceremony in the city. Our Eurovision reporter Kris Boswell filed this report from the red carpet.

The Eurovision Song Contest may still be two weeks away, but the international delegations are due to start arriving in Malmö this weekend. One of the highest priorities for the organisers is security, police say they are not expecting any trouble, but add that one anti-Israel demonstration is planned in the city during the Eurovision period.

One of Sweden’s best known sports celebrities, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, is set to make an appearance at the Eurovision Song Contest in his home town of Malmö next month, according to the tabloid Expressen.

Police are using sniffer dogs to search for bombs ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö.

Police spokesman Carl-Axel Andersson says to Swedish Television that the song contest will be a secure location.

"We will search all the areas where delegates are, so they can work in a safe environment," he says.

The 2013 Eurovision Song Contest took another step forward Monday, as representatives of the 39 competing countries gathered for a meeting in Malmö, where they met with representatives of the European Broadcasting Union and Swedish Television.

Sweden's Eurovision entry, "You" by Robin Stjernberg broke a new record the day after it won the Swedish Melodifestivalen.

Saturday's final of the Eurovision Song Contest had 4,126,000 TV viewers, the country's biggest TV audience in seven years. The numbers are based on preliminary statistics from the TV ratings company MMS.

Now that Sweden has chosen Robin Stjernberg and his song "You" to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, thoughts now turn to preparing for the show, which will be watched by millions in May.

While several hotels in Sweden's third largest city are already fully booked for the third weekend in May, locals are already cashing in on renting out rooms to some of the 100000 visitors expected to arrive in Malmö.

Two male artists have gone through to the final in the “second chance round” of the Melodifestivalen competition in Karldstad on Saturday.

Teenager Ulrik Munther will join Ralf Gyllenhammar (and his flaming piano) in the final of Sweden's contest for a Eurovision entry: Melodifestivalen. The result, which had been predicted by experts, means that there will be only one woman in the final.