Live: World awaits result of US election

Donald Trump has taken an early lead over his presidential rival Kamal Harris.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will be keenly watching the results from key swing states (AP)

Welcome to PA’s live US election page.

Americans headed to the polls on Tuesday to cast their ballots for either Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris in one of the nation’s most historic presidential races. They were also determining which party will control the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Mr Trump appeared to take an early lead over his presidential rival as polls closed.

The Republican candidate inched ahead in the early hours of the race, with predicted wins in solidly red states including Florida, Texas and Alabama outnumbering Ms Harris’s wins in Democrat strongholds including New York and Illinois.

• The winning candidate needs to get a majority of 270 Electoral College votes
• Republicans win US Senate majority
• Donald Trump wins first key battleground state

Here’s all the latest:

6am

Donald Trump has won the state of Georgia.

5.56am

5.51am

A Harris adviser has said the vice president will not speak on election night and that the campaign believes ‘we still have votes to count’.

5.47am

5.45am

Voters have elected two black women to serve simultaneously in the US Senate for the first time. Delaware’s Lisa Blunt Rochester and Maryland’s Angela Alsobrooks prevailed in their races, doubling the number of black women ever elected to the Senate – from two to four.

5.41am

Donald Trump is reported to be heading from his Florida estate to his election watch party in Palm Beach.

5.37am

5.30am

5.22am

Abortion rights advocates lost on a Florida ballot measure but prevailed in four other states, including Missouri, where an amendment clears the way to undo one of the nation’s strictest bans.

5.10am

Kamala Harris has won the 2nd Congressional District in Nebraska and one electoral vote.

5.08am

The Republicans have won a US Senate majority, seizing control of the chamber for the first time in four years.

5.05am

Democrat Nancy Pelosi has won re-election to the US House of Representatives in California’s 11th Congressional District.

5.02am

Kamala Harris has won Hawaii.

4.57am

4.50am

Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar has won a fourth term, defeating anti-establishment Republican and former NBA player Royce White in Minnesota.

4.49am

4.44am

Republican Lauren Boebert has won election to the US House of Representatives in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District.

4.43am

Kamala Harris has won the state of Virginia.

4.42am

Republican Ted Cruz has won re-election to US Senate from Texas. Republicans are one seat away from a Senate majority after flipping a critical seat in Ohio and holding the seat in Texas.

4.39am

4.35am

Kamala Harris has won the state of New Mexico.

4.30am

Republican Bernie Moreno has won election to US Senate from Ohio, beating incumbent Sherrod Brown.

4.24am

Kamala Harris has won Oregon.

4.23am

Donald Trump has won in the swing state of North Carolina.

4.10am

Crucial battleground states including Georgia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina are yet to be called, and could tip the balance in the contest to be the next US president.

4.05am

A bar hosting Democratic Party supporters in London went virtually silent as a television network showed Donald Trump narrowly ahead in swing states.

Some UK-based Democrats held their head in their hands as concern spread that Kamala Harris is not doing well enough in the vital battleground states.

There were shouts of “No, that can’t be right” as projections on CNN showed Mr Trump strongly ahead among Latino voters in Michigan.

4am

A spokesperson for Republicans Abroad has said Democrats are on course for a “shellacking” and that Kamala Harris’ path to victory is “getting narrower and narrower”.

Sara Elliot told Times Radio: “I think that we will probably know the winner before 6am London time tonight. It does not look like it’s going to be close at all.

“New York Times has just predicted that Donald Trump will win the popular vote in addition to the electoral college. And he looks slated to win not only the Sun Belt, but the Blue Wall as well. This is what we would call in America a shellacking, a thumping.

“It is definitely not what we expected in some ways, being that the polls were as close as they are.”

She continued: “Her just path to victory is getting narrower and narrower, and it doesn’t look possible. So this is a real realignment for the Republican Party, because this is a very unique coalition that has crossed the finish line, or appears to be crossing the finish line. But it is also a new day in America.

“You know, 70% of Americans felt that the country was on the wrong track. The main issues in this campaign have been the economy and immigration. And those are the issues that Donald Trump polls much better than Kamala Harris.

“And again, there is a huge gender gap in this election campaign. Male vote is coming out for Donald Trump and the female vote coming out for Kamala Harris.”

4am

Democrat Sarah McBride has been elected to the US House of Representatives and will become the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress. Ms McBride easily defeated Republican John Whalen III in the race for Delaware’s lone House seat.