Thanks to everyone who visited the chatroom for our LiveChat from the first dress rehearsal for tomorrow’s Grand Final. It was a lively and well-attended affair, particularly for a Friday afternoon – although I suppose this isn’t just any Friday afternoon!

Providing a full transcript of the chat would likely crash the server, but I’ll summarise my thoughts below, as this is the last run-through I’ll be watching before the big night – I was considering attending the jury final in the arena tonight, but curling up with a good book is starting to look increasingly attractive instead…

Well, first of all, we saw the big five rehearse for the first time in a few days. So how did they come across? France seemed a little underwhelming to me, but that might just be over-familiarity, as the staging is incredibly effective when you encounter it for the first time. Italy seemed particularly real by comparison, though. The sound mix for the UK was entirely horrible (though the visuals were fine) – if they haven’t sorted that out by tonight, they’re going to have serious trouble with the juries. Germany was Germany, arty and awkward and awesome, while Spain was a breath of fresh air that’s probably still doomed for the bottom five.

Elsewhere, countries that have suffered from the final draw include the early trio of Finland, Bosnia and Denmark – three mid-tempo blokes-with-guitars in a row does not make for a mutually beneficial start to proceedings. And there’s a real lull towards the end, so although the likes of Ukraine, Serbia and Georgia can be fundamentally happy with performing towards the end of the night, there’s no real guarantee that they’ll end up benefiting from that position.

By contrast, Iceland have an absolute peach of a draw, and while I can’t quite see them sweeping up votes from all over the place (although I suppose the oompah beat is quite east-friendly), top 10 seems entirely possible. And you can still get 150/1 on them to win! Meanwhile, the upbeat run of Hungary, Ireland, Sweden and Estonia might seem theoretically dangerous in terms of cannibalising votes from each other, but I actually think it works quite well as the first real interest-grabber of the night – although it certainly benefits Greece in 9th too (and I’m by no means ruling out a top 10 finish for them at this stage).

The cutest moment of the day was when a loud and insistent alarm went off in the press centre during Serbia. Volunteers and security staff alike were unflustered, so we assumed we weren’t in imminent danger of Death by Exploding Psychedelic Background or anything. And indeed, a few moments after the sound abated, a friendly voice duly informed us over the PA: “If you don’t want to hear this noise again, please do not smoke on the toilets”. Such drama!

And with that, I’m signing off for the day. I’m far from the only person in the press working area to be showing distinct signs of a thousand-yard stare, and it was quite a struggle to get out of bed this morning – though a lovely walk along the river to the arena soon put paid to any real malaise (the power of listening to Real Music occasionally!). Either way, it’s been a terrific fortnight in this crazy, crazy world, and I’m sure we’ll all be wide-eyed and ready to go for the big show tomorrow night. I shall pop back in with my final predictions at some point, since they’ve been so thoroughly successful so far. Until then, enjoy the build-up and have a great time!