The final took place on 12 March 2016 at the Friends Arena in Stockholm, hosted by Gina Dirawi and William Spetz. Twelve entries competed during the show. Eight of the entries qualified directly from the semi-finals, while four of the competing entries qualified from the Second Chance round. The winner was selected by a combination of viewer votes and eleven international jury groups. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 473 points to award. Each jury group distributed their points as follows: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points. The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved through the following voting methods: telephone, SMS and mobile application. For example, if a song gained 10% of the viewer vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 473 points rounded to the nearest integer: 47 points. Viewers were able to cast their vote in the final from the start of the show until five minutes after the jury groups had distributed their points, allowing the viewers to respond to the outcome of the jury results. In the event of a tie, the viewer vote would overrule the jury. "If I Were Sorry" performed by Frans was selected as the winner after placing second with the international jury vote and winning the public vote to finish with an overall 156 point total. A record total of 12,643,275 votes were cast by the viewers during the show with a total of 2,174,489 SEK collected for Radiohjälpen.

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured an anti-bullying themed performance of the Melodifestivalen 2015 winning song "Heroes", in a new arrangement by Moh Denebi, performed by Måns Zelmerlöw together with a children's choir and a medley of past Melodifestivalen hits intended to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the current format of the competition. The medley included: "Adrenaline" (2002) performed by DJ Méndez, "Don't Stop Believing" (2015) performed by Mariette, "Kom" (2010) performed by Timoteij, "Kom och ta mig" (2002) performed by Brandsta City Släckers, "Bröder" (2014) performed by Linus Svenning, "Moving On" (2009) performed by Sarah Dawn Finer, "Live Forever" (2007) performed by Magnus Carlsson, "Snälla snälla" (2009) performed by Caroline af Ugglas, "Sing For Me" (2006) performed by Andreas Johnson, "Håll om mig" (2005) performed by Nanne Grönvall, "Begging" (2013) performed by Anton Ewald, "Vem é dé du vill ha" (2002) performed by Kikki and Bettan, "Lay Your Love on Me" (2008) performed by BWO, "Hero" (2008) performed by Charlotte Perrelli and "La dolce vita" (2004) performed by After Dark. Recurring interval acts that were also part of the show included Jonas Gardell's schlager school, Helena Bergström's portrayals of the characters Lasse and Marianne and dramatic readings of past Melodifestivalen song lyrics by Swedish actors; Pernilla August and Michael Nyqvist performed a dramatic reading of Timoteij's Melodifestivalen 2010 entry "Kom". Sarah Dawn Finer also reprised her portrayal of the comedic character Lynda Woodruff, who first appeared in Melodifestivalen 2012.