After finishing an impressive fifth in Australia’s debut Eurovision competition, Guy Sebastian has been singled out for high praise from winner Mans Zelmerlow from Sweden.

“Australia was definitely my favourite,” Zelmerlow said.

“It was a great song and it’s already a huge hit in Sweden.”

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Some were sceptical about the Australia being given a wild card to enter Europe’s favourite song contest but Sebastian rocked Vienna with his catchy pop tune Tonight Again.

Zelmerlow’s song Heroes, the clear favourite, won the 60th Eurovision Song Contest at the Stadthalle arena ahead of Russia and Italy. Belgium was fourth.

Sebastian was “pumped” with fifth, even though some international viewers labelled him a Bruno Mars rip-off.

One post on social media summed it up: “Budget Bruno Mars seems to be the general consensus on Guy Sebastian. Such a shame. The bloke oozes talent”.

The 33-year-old cancelled a scheduled appearance for the wider Australian media to spend time with family and friends. He told SBS: “We were hoping to just not finish last because that would be a bit embarrassing.

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“Obviously we’ve got no neighbourly relations or anything (in Europe) that are giving us props (votes) but we got so much support over here.”

The ARIA winner admitted that performing on such a huge stage – the global TV audience was 200 million – was nerve-racking.

“You are in unfamiliar territory on an unfamiliar stage in a very unfamiliar competition that we’re outsiders to.

“I didn’t know what to expect but when I heard the 10,000 people cheer and go off for Australia it was just an amazing feeling.”

Sebastian said up until the eve of the grand final he felt he was “carrying the weight of Australia”.

But then he decided to “breathe it all out and let it all go and just have fun”.

It showed on stage.

The South Australian, who was selected by SBS to represent Australia, busted out some dazzling dance moves alongside his four backing singers.

He was the 12th of 27 entrants to take the stage in the grand final, two spots after Zelmerlow who dominated with a cool song and even cooler on-stage graphics.

The Swede, like Sebastian a professional artist, received a massive cheer when it became clear he’d won.

“I just want to say we are all heroes no matter who we are and what we believe in – we are all heroes,” Zelmerlow said on stage.

Sebastian scored a total of 196 points and received a top-three placing (either 12, 10 or eight votes) from Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, San Marino, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Australia’s professional jury and voting public gave top points to Sweden followed by Russia and Italy, meaning Australia called the contest exactly right.