The X-Factor winner shook off pre-show nerves to bring the auditorium in Stockholm to its feet with this powerful rendition of Sound Of Silence below.
Dami now goes into the big showdown, screening live from 5am (AEST) on SBS, Sunday, May 15.
It’s Australia’s second straight slot in the Grand Final, following Guy Sebastian, who placed fifth in 2015 with his original song Tonight Again.
But unlike, Guy who was guaranteed a place in the final round as a welcoming gesture of goodwill to Australia, Dami had to fight tooth and nail.
Before performing to an estimated TV audience of 180 million people, Dami confessed to more than a few pre-show jitters.
“When I am on that stage, when I was rehearsing, that thought of hundreds of millions just kept popping up,” she says.
“That made me shake a little bit, so I’m trying to fight that off. I think it’s important to just try and perform for that one person.”
As the 27-year-old took to the stage, her former mentor on The X-Factor Dannii Minogue used her social media platforms to urge her many fans to vote for Dami.
“I know a lot of contestants that come from talent shows, they say they’ve never heard from their mentor since the show’s over,” Dami told Fairfax Media.
“I’m really lucky, she’s been like a friend to me. She knows so much about this industry and how to look after yourself as an artist.”
The other countries who made it through the cut-throat semi-final rounds are Latvia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Serbia, Poland, Israel, Lithuania, Belgium Azerbaijan, Russia, The Netherlands, Hungary, Croatia, Malta, Austria, Armenia, Czech Republic and Cyprus.
They join the ‘big five’ Italy, UK, Germany, France and Spain – and the host country, in this case Sweden.
If you miss the live event on Sunday morning, the show will be repeated later that night from 7.30pm on SBS.
