Today saw the final rehearsals for the first half of the semifinal participants. It's also been a good day for esctoday.com with an extra hour to spare before rehearsals began and an earlier finish. Some of the team members might even get more than four hours sleep for the first time in 5 days!

All in all, things are going very well and readers and fans can look forward to a spectacular show. Whilst most artists claimed to be happy with the presentations, staging and camera work, with their requests after the first rehearsals successfully dealt with, Israel struggled, claiming that none of their requests have been completed. They are still hoping to be allowed additional rehearsal time so that they have a level playing field as the other artists but there have been no public statements.

On stage, it has been another great day for the Netherlands, Belarus and Switzerland showed big improvements on their first rehearsals and Bulgaria are certainly working towards leading from the front.

Tonight, the esctoday.com team will have the chance to get out of the press centre before midnight, and those who can, will be attending the various party venues around the town – including of course, the Euroclub at Vanha.

Tomorrow completes the individual rehearals of the semi-final participants as the finalists arrive in Helsinki for their first rehearsals on Monday. In exactly one week, the Eurovision Song Contest will begin!