Scottish independence: Today's referendum explained in under three minutes

Video: Confused about the arguments on both sides after months of mud-slinging? Oliver Duff succinctly explains the referendum

Pro-independence supporters wave Scottish flags in Glasgow's George Square, in Scotland, on September 17, 2014. (Andy Buchanan | AFP | Getty Images)

A two-year bitter election campaign will reach its conclusion in the next 24 hours as Scottish voters head to the polls to decide their country's future.

It has been an eventful campaign: the BBC's Nick Robinson heckled Alex Salmond, David Cameron swore and Ed Miliband awkwardly grinned his way through an angry mob of "Yes" voters.

The endless onslaught of claims and counter-claims on both sides has led to final polls suggesting that 17,000 undecided voters could decide the outcome in this historic referendum.

For the unsure among the 4,285,323 people registered to vote in Scotland (the largest ever electorate in Scotland for an election or referendum), the editor of the i, Oliver Duff, offers a pithy explainer on the ins and outs of today's vote.

Should Scottish voters break this 307-year-old union and ensure they may never have to see a Conservative government again, while basking in the richness of their oil fields in the North Sea? Or should they preserve arguably one of the world's most successful political and economic trading blocs?

Duff explains that regardless of the outcome, the political future of Scotland will certainly change and Holyrood will have more powers than ever before.

The Independent has disabled comments on all Scottish Independence Referendum articles while polls are open. The Scottish Referendum Act seeks to ensure the vote is unaffected by reports of how people are voting.