Additional points were awarded from a rest-of-the-world vote. That pool sat on top of the jury and public shares and gave viewers outside the 11 countries a formal place in the tally.
Enthusiasm in the hall for Eurovision Asia was huge. Even so, a large number of the audience were established fans of the original contest from other countries and regions of the world.
The win gave a first champion to a regional contest that had been talked about for decades. Despite many false starts, the idea had never materialised until this edition.
Carmelle, the youngest contestant in the competition, was always a front-runner. According to the BBC, she was an obvious favourite with the juries and the public despite strong showings from several nations.
Her entry, Sobra-Sobra, is a women's empowerment anthem with a catchy rap section. The song carried her through a final that drew entries from 11 countries.
Scoring followed the European contest in its main split. The public vote accounted for 50 percent of the result, with the other 50 percent coming from the 11 national juries.
The arena was crowded, but not full. It is still not clear how much commitment there is among regional broadcasters to keep the contest going and to expand it beyond 11 countries.
The broadcast had one clear mishap. The Laotian song received an unintentional second outing after its music video was played over an apparent technical issue.
That fault meant the Laotian entry was the last song the audience heard before the vote. The BBC described the replay as the product of a technical problem during the broadcast.
Carmelle's victory still rested on the same split that decides the European contest: public taste on one side, national juries on the other, plus the rest-of-the-world points used in this Asian edition.