A stunned hush fell over Birmingham’s LG Arena as 13 gold-clad bodies took to the stage.

So in awe was the audience, in fact, that it wasn’t until the very end of the five-minute opening performance of Britain’s Got Talent Live that anybody remembered to clap, as winners

Spelbound showed why they had captured the nation’s heart.

It’s amazing they have the energy to do this every night, let alone twice in a day as they did on Saturday.

Their performance is a visual cacophany of incredible feats, as stunt after nigh-on-impossible stunt takes place in several different places at once.

The audience was barely given chance to recover before loveable best-mate breakdance duo Twist and Pulse took to the stage, earning what was probably the biggest cheer of the night, with their trademark tongue-in-cheek performance to a series of random thumps and bleeps mixed in with the likes of Sean Paul, Rihanna, Eric Prydz and – yes – the Cheeky Girls.

Tax-accountant-turned-operatic singer Christopher Stone and the adorable Liam McNally were flawless and eighty one-year-old grandmother Janey Cutler appeared in a classy red long cocktail dress to perform a rousling rendition of No Regrets.

Impressionist Paul Burling had the audience roaring with laughter and teenybopping boyband Connected earned a shrieking cheer from their already-hysterical-sounding fans when they did their second song, Take That’s Never Forget.

So what can beat singers and dancers? Why, a dancing dog of course – and Chandi, who was rescued from a Telford animal shelter by owner Tina, stole the show, even taking a bow at the end.

Sonya Cook, 33, was there with son Callum, six.

“Twist and Pulse and Tina and Chandi were our favourites and still are after seeing it live. We voted for them both to win,” said Mrs Cook, of Sally Ward Drive, Walsall.

“It has made Callum want to get a dog so he can train it like Chandi.

Donna Clayton, 39, of Quarry Bank was there with daughter Jamie-Lyn, 13, and mother Lynn, 59.

Lynn said: “We like Twist and Pulse best – we think they should have won, though Spelbound were brilliant of course.

She said they had bought tickets just two weeks after the show started on TV – before they would even have seen most of the finalists perform.

“It’s a great show, real entertainment.”