So Lordi pulled it off!

The Finland representative took the title at the 51st song contest in Greece by a country mile, beating their nearest challengers Russia by over 50 points.

'Hard Rock Hallelujah' finished on 292 points with the Russian entry getting 248. The UK was amongst the many countries to give Lordi maximum points.

For the record the UK entry ended up in 19th place with 25 points.

Speaking on BBC News, frontman of Lordi, also called Lordi said: "We are a rock band and we just won Eurovision - that's weird. This was a victory for rock music and also a victory for open-mindedness."

He went on to say that he hopes this will help to open the door for other rock acts to enter the usually pop driven contest: "This is proof that there are rock fans who watch Eurovision."

Commenting on the result as he closed the BBC radio coverage, Ken Bruce said: "It's hard rock and there's nothing wrong with it. The offence people have taken is misplaced in my view. It's putting the fun back into rock, and rock back into Eurovision."

Lordi went into the competition with their home land divided, there was a national outcry when they were chosen as the entry on behalf of Finland.

This convincing victory is the first for Finland and means they now host to contest in 2007.