Eurovision 2019: Kate Miller-Heidke to represent Australia - The Sydney Morning Herald

Kate Miller-Heidke has been formally selected to represent Australia at the 64th annual Eurovision song contest.

The singer-songwriter was declared the winner of SBS's inaugural Australia Decides competition on Saturday evening. She ousted a field of nine other acts that included the likes of Brisbane indie band Sheppard, former The Voice winner Alfie Arcuri and even a talented 16-year-old by the name of Leea Manos.

Kate Miller-Heidke at Eurovision: Australia Decides. Credit:AAP

This year's artist was selected off the back of a public vote for the first time in Australia's short-lived Eurovision history. An expert jury of five individuals also accounted for half of an act's score.

Miller-Heidke topped Saturday's scoreboard, narrowly beating electronic group Electric Fields. In third place was Sheppard with their new single On My Way, followed by drag queen Courtney Act in fourth place.

The singer-songwriter was widely expected to win, given the loudest cheers during Friday night's jury show were reserved for her operatic pop song as well as Electric Fields' number 2000 and Whatever. Betting agencies were also tipping one of the two acts to come out on top.

In an interview before Saturday night’s performance, Miller-Heidke said she wasn’t expecting to win.

"The other acts are so incredible," she said. "It is impossible to predict. I don’t want to go in there with the mindset that I want to win. It’s not Survivor.

"I just want to be part of the celebration and celebrate everyone’s talent."

The singer-songwriter has also revealed her winning song entry is about postnatal depression.

"The song tries to capture the feeling when I was coming out of [the depression] and the world was getting its colour back," she said.

"Having a child shakes your world. So it’s about that sense of becoming myself again."

This year's Eurovision contest will be held in Tel Aviv, Israel, in May.

More to come

Broede Carmody is an entertainment reporter at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald