Heart of Australia

Australia will participate in the Mako Song Contest 2019. The Australian broadcaster, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, will organise the national final Heart of Ukraine in order to select the Australian entry for the 2019 contest in Stockholm, Sweden.

Bidding Phase
Australia broadcaster, ABC, announced on 15 November that after a lengthy bidding phase, Sydney's ANZ Stadium would host final of the Heart of Australia.

The Host City


Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Port Jackson and extends about 70 km (43.5 mi) on its periphery towards the Blue Mountains to the west, Hawkesbury to the north, and Macarthur to the south. Sydney is made up of 658 suburbs, 40 local government areas and 15 contiguous regions. Residents of the city are known as "Sydneysiders". As of June 2017, Sydney's estimated metropolitan population was 5,131,326.

Presenters
During the press conference to announce the host, ABC surprised the press announcing Jessica Mauboy.

Jessica Hilda Mauboy (born 4 August 1989) is an Australian R&B and pop singer, songwriter and actress. Born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, Mauboy rose to fame in 2006 on the fourth season of Australian Idol; she became the runner-up and subsequently signed a recording contract with Sony Music Australia. After releasing a live album of her Idol performances and briefly being a member of the girl group Young Divas in 2007, Mauboy released her debut studio album, Been Waiting, the following year. It earned Mauboy her first number-one single "Burn", became the second highest-selling Australian album of 2009, and was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).

Format
The format of the competition consisted of four shows: two semi-finals, on 2-3 February 2018, a second chance round on 10 February 2018 and a final on 11 February 2018. The results are determined by all countries having the ability to rank all songs from 1 - 5 by voting at home. The top 2 will qualify to the final from each semi final whilst third place will go to Second Chance!