Stefan's win with his English-language, spaghetti western-themed song was the result of a combination of jury and audience vote.

The act was the favorite with betting firm Betsafe going into Saturday's final, though the rank outsider, according to the same company,  Minimal Wind ft. Elisabeth Tiffany, was second with their song "What To Make Of This", while Elysa placed third with the song "Fire".

Stefan told ERR's Raadio 2 shortly after the results were announced that he: "Will do my best at the Eurovision and I'll try not to disappoint," adding that he would be immediately rounding up his friends and going off to celebrate the victory.

"It's really unbelievable that this has become a reality now; it's so cool," he added.

Saturday's event was hosted at the Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, and had been granted an exemption from regular Covid rules which would have capped the number of participants at 1,000.

Two-time Eurovision entrant Maarja-Liis Ilus hosted the show, which was interspersed with other musical performances and light-hearted retrospectives, together with actor Priit Loog and singer Jüri Pootsmann.

No fewer than 40 acts entered this year's Eesti Laul, with 20 going through to the semi-finals earlier this month and 10 of these competing at Saturday's final.

Stefan must get qualify at the Eurovision semi-finals in order to get to the grand final on May 14.

"Hope" was co-written by Stefan Airapetjan and Karl-Ander Reismann.

Videos, galleries and news can be found on the Eesti Laul site (in Estonian) here, while the winning entry can be viewed via the video link below, while the official video is here.

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