Malta will not be taking part in Saturday's Eurovision final after Amber's song "Warrior" failed to qualify in today's second semi-final.

The 10 countries making it through today were Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Norway, Montenegro, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Latvia and Israel.

Amber gave a brilliant rendition of her song but faced tough competition from the participating countries, with the prevailing view being  that many of the best songs in this year’s contest – such as Sweden, Slovenia and Norway’s - all of which made it through -  were coincidentally grouped in this semi-final.

Speaking to Times of Malta from Vienna this afternoon, Amber said she was well-prepared and ready to enjoy herself on stage.

“I am very excited but looking forward to a good performance tonight” she said.

“Preparations are going well. We have worked really hard and I think that the finished product will look good. I would like thank the Maltese public, who has shown me incredible support. I will be giving my all tonight on stage to make Malta proud.”

Seventeen entries were judged by televoting tonight with 10 going through to the final along with 10 selected on Tuesday and six countries that do not need to go through the semis.

They are the ‘big five’ of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, as well as last year’s winners Austria. Guest country Australia is taking part to celebrate the competition’s 60-year anniversary.

In the first semi-final, favourites Russia and Serbia cantered through alongside Albania, Armenia, Romania, Hungary, Greece, Estonia, Georgia, and Belgium.

Tonight’s televoting votes constituted 50 per cent of the total. The other 50 per cent was given yesterday by national juries who watched the dress rehearsal. Their votes have been kept under wraps, but Amber was widely praised for her performance.

Amber entered the competition as the bookmakers’ 12th favourite to qualify, out of the 17 competing countries.

Amber's participation in the Eurovision was handled by PBS.