Australia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in by invitation from the European Broadcasting Union as a "one-off" special guest to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Eurovision. On 17 November 2015, the EBU announced that SBS had been invited to participate in the 2016 contest and that Australia would once again take part. In 2015, Australia was guaranteed a spot in the final of the contest and was allowed to vote during both semi-finals and the final; however, for the 2016 contest, Australia would have to qualify to the final from one of two semi-finals and could only vote in the semi-final in which the nation was allocated to compete. On 23 August 2017, SBS confirmed Australia's participation in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest after securing an invitation for the fourth year in a row. In 2017, Australia was represented by Isaiah Firebrace and the song "Don't Come Easy". The country ended in ninth place in the grand final with 173 points.
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
On 11 December 2017, SBS announced Jessica Mauboy as the Australian entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. Mauboy had previously performed at the interval act at the second semi final of the 2014 contest, the year before Australia debuted at the 2015 contest.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 29 January 2018, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Australia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2018 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Australia was set to perform in position 9, following the entry from Netherlands and preceding the entry from Georgia.
Semi-final
Final
Voting
Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.
Points awarded to Australia
Points awarded by Australia
Split voting results
The following five members comprised the Australian jury:
