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The story of the US Election: What happened on Election Night 2020

It is too close to call - after a night of nail biting drama Donald Trump and Joe Biden are neck and neck in key swing states.

Trump has defied the odds in Florida and is still in play in those crucial battleground states yet to declare, but Biden is targeting a big win in Arizona.

Here's the story of how the election unfolded on the night.

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All times GMT.

7:30PM - Joe Biden is the apparent winner of Wisconsin, a key battleground state that was previously Republican.

After a long night of counting, the close race ended in the Democrat challenger gaining its 10 electoral college votes to put him on 237 - just 33 short of the required 270 to win the presidential election.

5:10PM - Joe Biden is projected to win Maine and take three of the four electoral college votes.

3:30PM - Joe Biden's campaign says they believe the former Democrat vice president will have more than 270 electoral votes today.

"We believe we are on a clear path to victory. By this afternoon we expect that the vice president will have leads in states that put him over 270 electoral votes," they said. 

12:30PM - With 99% of votes counted, Joe Biden has taken a slim lead (about 20,000 votes right now) over President Donald Trump in Wisconsin.

Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin by less than 30,000 votes back in 2016 in a major upset.

Despite Biden's slim lead, the race remains too close to be projected.

8.45AM - Good Morning Britain's election expert and pollster Frank Luntz predicts that Joe Biden will win the election.

He says: "I still think it’s going to be Joe Biden, but it’s going to be a very narrowly successful Joe Biden surrounded by a Republican Senate and just maybe they will learn to get along."

7.30AM - Donald Trump gives a speech at the White House.

He has claimed - without providing evidence - that there was "massive fraud" in the presidential election and that he has already won.

6AM - As Florida is called for Trump his tweet saying the Democrats are "stealing the election" is hidden by Twitter as the close election could lead to unrest on the streets.

Texas is called for Trump after some suggestions the traditionally red state could turn an unlikely blue this year.

5.45AM - Joe Biden comes out to address his supporters at a rally in Delaware.

"We are on track to win this election," he told them. "keep the faith guys, we're gonna win this."

Within seconds of Biden's remarks Donald Trump sent his first tweet of the night:

5.30AM - Piers sums up the story of the election night with the result on a knife edge as lots of votes across the country come in.

5AM - In what is a very close contest it is clear that the race to become the 46th President of the United States is going to come down to four states - Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

There's a twist in the tail for Georgia which had been leaning to Republican all night but starts a march towards Democrat with The New York Times pitching it at a 63% chance of a Biden win in the southern state.

4.30AM - Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania all confirm they will not be announcing a result tonight - all but confirming neither candidate will be named as a winner tonight.

A big moment for the Biden camp as Arizona, and its 11 Electoral College votes, is called his way by Fox News among others.

4AM - As the Biden camp were wondering what was happening the absentee votes began to come into play.

There's a shot of hope in typically Republican-leaning Arizona and then in key states Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania there's significant absentee ballots which may not be counted until as late as Friday.

With Trump getting early victories in important battlegrounds it's time for a reminder that many of possibly decisive votes will not be counted tonight.

After California, the state with the most Electoral College votes on offer with 55, was projected for Biden the score stood at 192 for Biden against 108 for Trump.

It's still all to play for...

3AM - The first questions of what would happen if there to be a tie in the Electoral College votes appear with a possibility that both candidates could finish on 269 Electoral College votes apiece.

At this stage many pundits also began to admit that there would not be a clear result tonight with the delay coming from mail votes in key battleground states.

The battle for Electoral College votes at this stage remains even with CNN projecting Biden at 89 against Trump at 72.

2AM - As Trump looks like he is holding Florida and coming in well in Ohio, the bookies placed him as the favourite to win the election for the first time.

It begins to come clear that this race is going to be a lot closer than any poll predicted and as Piers Morgan says below, it is starting to feel a lot like 2016...

12AM - Donald Trump won his first Electoral College votes as he took Indiana and Kentucky, two traditionally Republican states, racking up 18 Electoral College votes.

All eyes are on Florida to get a first gauge of what is going to happen in this monumental election.

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