Polls in a historic US election have started to close, as Donald Trump and Joe Biden prepare to find out who has won the race for the White House.
Six states – including the battleground of Georgia – saw voting end at 7pm (12am GMT), with “toss up” races such as Florida and Pennsylvanian due to follow within the next hour.
Counting of today’s in-person votes will now get under way, along with the record nearly 99 million ballots submitted before 3 November largely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Trump is waiting in the White House to discover if he will get four more years there or become the first one-term president since 1992.
The Republican incumbent admitted earlier losing would not be “easy”, but is still publicly optimistic about his chances.
He said the result should be declared as soon as possible, telling campaign workers at their headquarters in Virginia that: “I think we should know what happens on the night…
“You can’t have these things delayed for many days and maybe weeks, you can’t do that.
“The whole world is waiting, this country is waiting but the whole world is waiting.”
The US president is hoping to get another four years in the Oval Office
His Democrat challenger is in Wilmington, Delaware, where a podium has already been erected for him to make an “address to the nation” in front of a drive-in rally of supporters.
Mr Biden spent the day in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania – the same state he paid three visits to on Tuesday in a sign of how highly he values its prize of 20 Electoral College votes.
So bullish is he that the former vice president wrote a note on the wall of the living room in the house he grew up in that said: “From this house to the White House with the grace of God.”
Mr Biden signed and dated the message on his old living room wall. Pic: Biden pool/Axios
The early exit poll appeared to favour Mr Biden, showing the proportion of white voters is down by 6% to 56% compared to 2016, while the number of college graduates of all races is up by 5% to 45%.
White non-college educated voters were therefore down by 6% to 33% compared to the last election – potentially problematic for Mr Trump given they were his core vote.
Many Americans cast their ballot on Tuesday despite a record nearly 99 million voting early
There was no widespread voting chaos like some feared, though there were a few hinderances.
In Michigan, the attorney general said some constituents received automated calls telling them to “stay home” because of the coronavirus.
“Obviously this is FALSE and an effort to suppress the vote,” she tweeted.
In North Carolina, polls will stay open up to 45 minutes longer in some areas because they opened late due to “printer issues”.
And the US postal services ordered some sites to “sweep” facilities to “ensure that no ballots have been held up and that any identified ballots are immediately sent out for delivery”.
Meanwhile shops and offices in California, Washington DC and New York boarded up their windows for fear of violence breaking out on the streets.
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US election: Why you should care
While all eyes will be on whether Mr Trump or Mr Biden gets the top job, all the seats in Congress and a third of the Senate is also up for election.
Democrats are hoping to increase their majority in the House of Representatives, and flip a minimum of three seats in the US Senate to take control there.