Clegg believes he will be surprise story on the night

By ITV Political Correspondent Emily Morgan

Now, I should start this by saying 'hasn't it gone quickly?' but I actually don't think it has.

The campaign has been long, drawn out and if the voters have been engaged for six weeks I'd be extremely surprised.

At the start of the campaign Nick Clegg told me people only really start listening in the last two weeks.

Perhaps that's why the Lib Dems left their announcements on red lines until last week and why their campaign has suddenly gone up a gear this week.

Nick Clegg began his 1,000 mile journey up the country, from Land's End to John O'Groats, yesterday so he will spend much of today in Scotland.

He needs to - repeated polls suggest he is facing virtual wipeout there so he'll be pulling out all the stops to try and retain some of his 11 seats.

We're starting in East Dunbartonshire, Jo Swinson's seat. A year ago she was fighting off a Labour challenge now she's facing an SNP one and it's the same story across Scotland.

Danny Alexander's seat is the next stop and losing him would be a major blow to Mr Clegg, but he is well behind in the polls and talk of a peerage has already done the rounds to keep him in play if the inevitable happens.

Mr Clegg though is very confident they won't be decimated here or anywhere.

This morning he told me he would do much better tomorrow than anyone has been predicting and refuses to concede the polls might be right.

He actually believes he will be the surprise story on the night.

He is in very good spirits, despite the lack of sleep (roughly, four hours a night) and has been immensely buoyed by the backing of various newspapers.

So, what is his game plan for the last 24 hours?

It is to repeat his message again and again that this is the biggest political decision of voters' lives, that the only way to stop a new government lurching off to the left or right is to vote Lib Dem, the only party that will anchor Britain to the centre ground.

We've heard it before but this is their last chance to get the message through and they are all guns blazing.

Nick Clegg is convinced we will end up with a hung parliament and he says he is genuinely worried the main parties could try and rule as a minority government.

His last gasp yesterday was to warn that would end in a messy, chaotic government culminating in a second election before Christmas.

That was his last roll of the dice and he might be thinking, if that doesn't persuade voters to give him their support, what will?