Being ineligible for The Voice Kids was the best thing that ever happened to teenage singer Marlisa Punzalan, who has won this season of The X Factor.

The powerful singing pocket rocket beat singer-songwriter Dean Ray in Monday’s finale on the Seven Network show by just .01 per cent of the viewers’ votes.

Sibling boy band Brothers3 was third.

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It was the smallest margin on the history of the Australian version of The X Factor.

Punzalan, who was coached by Irish crooner Ronan Keating, was stunned by the result in beating the bookies’ favourite Ray, coached by Natalie Bassingthwaighte.

“I just can’t believe it, I feel like I’m floating on a cloud right now,” Punzalan said immediately after winning.

“Thank you so much Australia, I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Punzalan closed out the show with her debut single, ‘Stand By Me’, which was immediately released on iTunes.

Auditioning for The X Factor was an afterthought for Punzalan who, earlier this year, originally wanted to try out for The Voice Kids.

However the rival Nine Network’s reality show was restricted to children aged eight to 14, meaning she missed out by a month.

Instead of singing for a scholarship on The Voice Kids, Punzalan has now won a recording contract with Sony Music and will support Guy Sebastian on his Madness tour in 2015.

The grand final show also featured international superstar Taylor Swift singing her chart-topping hit ‘Shake It Off’.

In an interview with host Luke Jacobz, Swift handed out some wise advice to the finalists on the show.

“I think that never assuming that you are entitled to anything is very important… and just generally treating everybody well is a really good thing to do,” she said.