[4] It is located in the Parque das Nações (Park of Nations) riverside district in the northeast of Lisbon, which was completely renovated to host the 1998 world's fair.

[6] Following Sobral's triumph, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)'s Executive Supervisor for the Eurovision Song Contest, Jon Ola Sand, issued the hosting invitation to RTP during the winner's press conference.

During the meeting, RTP officials attended a workshop covering several topics related with hosting the Eurovision Song Contest and learned from the experience of the Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC.

[15] On 25 July 2017, the EBU and RTP announced that Lisbon had been selected as the host city, overcoming confirmed bids from Braga, Gondomar, Guimarães, and Santa Maria da Feira.

It was located in Lisbon's downtown Praça do Comércio (also called Terreiro do Paço), a large central square open to the Tagus river.

[34] The "Blue Carpet" event, where all the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, took place on 6 May 2018 at the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon's Belém district.

Russia confirmed their return after their absence the previous edition, while Macedonia's participation was provisionally blocked by the EBU due to unpaid debts by its national broadcaster MRT.

[42] The contest also featured Jessica Mauboy, representing Australia, after taking part in 2014 as the interval act for the second semi-final, performing "Sea of Flags".

[60] Its visual design features oceanic motifs that allude to Lisbon and Portugal's location on the Atlantic coast and to the country's seafaring history.

"[63][64] The decision was not embraced by all participating countries; some delegations opted to continue using video content, computer-generated graphics and "more [props] than ever before" during performances, which was met by mixed reaction.

[65][66][67] The postcards, filmed between March and April 2018, involved the act emerging from a door into Portugal to take part in a themed activity, such as mountain biking, making a salad or pastel de nata, or visiting popular attractions.

At the end of the postcard, the act posed for the camera, the slogan's hashtag appeared on the bottom corner of the screen, and song information was printed onto the country's flag.

[75] The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on 29 January 2018 at 13:00 CET, at the Lisbon City Hall.

The thirty-seven semi-finalists were divided over six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame.

[79] Israel won the most points, followed by Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Austria, Estonia, Ireland, Bulgaria, Albania, Lithuania and Finland.

The countries that failed to reach the final were Azerbaijan, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Armenia, Belarus, Croatia, Macedonia, and Iceland.

[80] The interval, which solely consisted of pre-recorded segments, included a performance of "Amar pelos dois" by 2017 entrants Alma, Blanche, Kristian Kostov, Manel Navarro, Martina Bárta, Norma John, and Svala; "Planet Portugal", a video sketch inspired by National Geographic featuring Herman José; and "Esclopedia", a video skit about the contest's history.

The countries that failed to reach the final were Romania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Russia, Montenegro, San Marino, and Georgia.

The interval acts included a dance medley of "Puppet on a String", "Dschinghis Khan", "Making Your Mind Up", "Euphoria" and Riverdance, performed by the presenters; a pre-recorded segment depicting the recording of the postcards; a short documentary about the Portuguese 1974 entry "E depois do adeus" and its impact on the Carnation Revolution; plus new instalments of "Esclopedia" and "Planet Portugal".

Cyprus came second with 436 points, with Austria (who won the jury vote), Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Estonia, Denmark, and Moldova completing the top ten.

[88] The European Broadcasting Union provided international live streams with no commentary of both semi-finals and the final through their official YouTube channel.

The live streams were geo-blocked to viewers in Bolivia, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela due to rights limitations.

[200] On 10 January 2018, it had emerged on Russian social media site VK that Alekseev had performed a Russian-language version of his EuroFest entry "Forever" (as "Navsegda") in May 2017 in Stavropol – before 1 September 2017, the submission deadline set by the EBU, potentially violating the rules of the contest.

[203] Alekseev was ultimately allowed to compete by BTRC following a melodic revamp of the song, and went on to win the selection, thus earning the right to represent Belarus in the contest.

[205] A few weeks after that announcement, on 28 March 2018, Alekseev premiered a new version of his entry with a lighter intro and additional choir at the end of the track.

During the Chinese broadcast of the first semi-final on Mango TV, the performances of Albania and Ireland were edited out of the show, along with their snippets in the recap of all 19 entries.

[212] Ireland's representative Ryan O'Shaughnessy told the BBC in an interview that "they haven't taken this lightly and I think it's a move in the right direction, so I'm happy about it.

"[210] The performance of SuRie, who represented the United Kingdom, in the final was disrupted by a man who rushed onto the stage and grabbed her microphone, reportedly shouting "For the Nazis of the UK media, we demand freedom!

The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and 1984 winner Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final.

After all votes were cast, the top-ranked entry in the 2018 poll was also the winner of the contest, "Toy" performed by Netta; the top five results are shown below.