Australian singer Jessica Mauboy performed before the Eurovision crowd and an estimated telecast audience of about 180m on Thursday night, ending with an onstage arrival of an astronaut holding an Aboriginal flag and stating it was “one small step for Europe, one giant leap for Australia.”

Mauboy performed her song Sea of Flags at the famous competition in Copenhagen and said seeing all the international flags in the audience gave her goosebumps.

"What an incredible night,” she said.

“I am absolutely blown away by the magnitude of it all, from the staging to the lights, to all the colour, glitz and glam. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I'll never ever forget."

The Darwin singer took to the stage during an interval in the competition with an introduction by a Eurovision host.

“For 20 years we’ve had Australian viewers watching the show and it’s no secret they’ve begged us to let them join our competion,” she joked.

“They tried to sweet talk us, they tried to bring us gifts, seriously they’ll do anything to join to Eurovision.”

A kitschy futuristic video featuring SBS host Julia Zamiro and some costumed Aussies helicoptering the continent to Europe followed, before characters including a koala and some Sydney Swans AFL players performed a musical number on stage, name checking Russell Crowe, cockatoos and budgie smugglers.

Mauboy then took to the stage, a little shaky at first, but clearly enjoying herself in front of the thousands of pop music lovers in the audience. Sea of Flags ended as a man dressed as an austronaut, holding the Aboriginal flag, was lowered to stage beside Mauboy, proclaiming today was “one small step for Europe, one giant leap for Australia.”

The Guardian's Katharine Murphy will live blog the Australian broadcast of the final on Sunday.

