When do polling stations close today? When do the final exit polls come out?

How this 24-hour-period plays out will decide the next five years

Polling stations have opened for the most important event of the general election – polling day.

Following a highly unusual campaign that was blighted by terror attacks, security around the centres has been increased.

How this 24-hour-period plays out will decide how the UK is governed for the next five years. Here is a rundown of how it is expected to proceed.

When do polls open and close?

Polling stations – usually in public buildings such as schools and community centres – opened at 7am on Thursday.

Party leaders are expected to cast their ballots throughout the day, with many photo opportunities along the way.

Voting closes at 10pm, but if voters are queuing when the deadline strikes, they will still get a chance to cast their ballots. Then counting begins.

When does TV coverage start?

BBC, Sky News, ITV and Channel 4 are all planning live election coverage. David Dimbleby will host an election programme from 9.55pm through to 7am on Friday on BBC 1.

ITV’s coverage will also start just before 10pm and will continue to 6am, hosted by Tom Bradby.

Jeremy Paxman will present Channel 4's coverage from midnight until 6am and Sky News will have live coverage throughout the night, hosted by Adam Boulton and Sophy Ridge.

What time are the exit polls?

The exit poll – a survey of voters leaving polling stations – will be published at 10pm on Thursday. Exit polling correctly predicted the winners of the last four elections, although its record on predicting the exact number of seats each party wins is less reliable.

When will we get the first results?

Sunderland has historically been the first to announce its results, winning the race to count its ballots at every election since 1992. The result from Houghton and Sunderland South is expected around 45 minutes after polls close, owing to its finely-tuned counting system.

The next results are expected to trickle in slowly. At around 1am around 12 results will have been announced. This should indicate whether the exit poll is right.

When will we get the bulk of the results?

Around 1am is also when the first Labour-held marginal seats will be announced, such as Nuneaton in Warwickshire. If the Conservatives win these, it will indicate Theresa May is on course to win a sizable majority.

Results from Scotland will start coming in around 2am. How successful the SNP has been at defending its seats should become apparent.

Conservative marginal seats should also be announced around 2am. If the Tories lose some of these it indicates the party is in danger of losing its majority.

Then at 2.30am, Jeremy Corbyn's Islington North constituency will declare.

At about 3am the results are expected to be flooding in, giving a fuller picture of the final result.

Around 4am, Theresa May's constituency in Maidenhead, Berkshire, will declare its result.

Paul Nuttall – leader of Ukip – will find out if has successfully become an MP at about 5am, when the results from Boston and Skegness are expected.

Caroline Lucas will discover if she retained her seat, Brighton Pavillion, at about 6am. At a similar time, Tim Farron will find out if he has won his seat of Westmorland and Lonsdale.

St Ives in Cornwall is traditionally the last seat of all 650 to declare its result.

When will we know the winner?

It is hard to say when we will know who has won, because it depends on how tight the race is. The leader of the triumphant party is expected to wait for the leader of the losing party to concede defeat before announcing their victory.