Spain's Melani García third in Junior Eurovision Song Contest

Melani García, 12, who won The Voice Kids, was a hit with her song Marte ('Mars'), a lyrical protest over climate change, which she performed against a backdrop of a huge fishing net with plastic waste caught up in it against an underwater scene.

Ahead of the show, the schoolgirl from L'Eliana (Valencia province) said she was 'counting down the hours' and that it was her 'dream'.

“I'm loving the rehearsals,” she said in the weeks before heading for Poland.

Viki Gabor with her song Superhero netted 278 points to Melani's 212, whilst Kazakhstan's Yearzhan Maksin – a complete outsider – came second with 227 points.

Spain was fifth to go at last night's performance with its pop-friendly number featuring a backing chorus quartet.

Like in the mainstream Eurovision Song Contest, points awarded to each country are 50% public votes and 50% votes by a professional panel of judges – but the difference in the Junior Eurovision is that voters can choose their own country's entry, which has caused some controversy as those with larger populations automatically have a greater advantage.

Also, for the Junior Eurovision, votes are cast online via a site that does not need the user to register – largely because, by default, the majority will be minors, given that the performers themselves are aged between nine and 14.

Melani's act netted 12 points from the Albanian and Italian national panel of judges, whilst Spain's awarded 12 points to Poland.

In total, Spain earned 108 points from national judges and 104 from the public, compared with Poland's 112 and 166 respectively and Kazakhstan's 148 from judges and 79 from the public.

Given the massive support Melani received ahead of her act from Spanish fans, several participating countries – including Poland itself – accused Spain of having organised a massive collective vote for its own candidate.

Spain's last performance at the Junior Eurovision earned the country a fourth place, in 2006, with Dani Fernández and Te Doy Mi Voz ('I Give You My Voice').

It has come second twice – in 2003 with Sergio and Desde el Cielo ('From Heaven') and in 2005 with Antonio José and his Te Traigo Flores ('I Bring You Flowers') – but has only won once, in 2004, when nine-year-old María Isabel from Ayamonte (Huelva) took to the stage in a full-skirted flamenco dress for the catchy Antes Muerta Que Sencilla ('Rather Dead Than Simple').

A children's park in Ayamonte was named after her, and she missed out by just two places on representing Spain in the mainstream Eurovision in 2016, losing out to Barei's English-language street-pop number, Say Yay!.

She has since released a series of studio albums and worked as a TV presenter and a model for design house Macarena Castro, who sponsored her most recent one in her almost-Eurovision year, Yo Decido ('I'll Decide').

Now 24, she is said to be planning to open a shoe shop in Ayamonte and working on another album.

As for Melani, her very creditable third place marks the start of a new era for Spain in the Junior Eurovision, in which it has earned top-four places every time it has entered.

After Dani Fernández, Spain's national radio and television company RTVE's then manager, Javier Pons, pulled the country out of the contest, saying it 'promoted stereotypes' the broadcaster 'did not approve of', and 'encouraged child exploitation'.

The Spanish public reacted furiously, and society's general reaction when it was announced in June that the country would be returning to the show was highly positive.

And Melani does not need a Eurovision win to get her career off the ground – an accomplished violinist, pianist, ballerina, contemporary dancer and rhythmic gymnast, released a successful single when she was just 11.

Vivo Por Ella ('I Live For Her') was a cover of the classic by opera legend Andrea Boccelli.

Photograph: Thomas Hanses/Eurovision