SBS has conceded it misinformed viewers with the advertised time that voting was closing for Eurovision: Australia Decides.
But it maintains that voting did not close before all acts had performed.
“Voting in Eurovision: Australia Decides closed when Myf and Joel announced ‘Stop voting now’ – approximately 20 minutes after the last song at 2245 AEDT,” a spokesperson told TV Tonight.
“There was an error in the on-screen graphic that stated voting closed at approximately 2145 AEDT – the on-screen graphic should have said 2245 AEDT.”
The error was not confined to a Saturday night typo, with earlier advice from SBS last week also indicating a 9:45pm AEDT deadline.
On social media confused viewers were telling SBS the information on screen was incorrect. Some indicated their votes had not been received.
But SBS said, “The public vote was administered and audited by Ansible, who confirmed all eligible votes throughout the official voting period were accounted for.”