When will we know who won?

Donald Trump is expected to win three of the seven key states in the US presidential election, putting him in a position to take the White House.

The projected results in two swing states — North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania — come as signs show at least one state is leaning toward a former Republican president.

It may take some time before we get detailed final results in the race between Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.

Results are announced by country and region, and the BBC keeps you up to date with the latest figures as we go.

The race comes down to results seven skating regionsthat before election day experts believed either Harris or Trump would win.

Turnout was high in early voting, both in person and by mail, with records being broken in some states.

It is worth noting that votes still count. However, there are other signs of how voting is going in these key states.

Currently, Donald Trump is expected to win:

Trump also looks great in:

• In Wisconsinwhere the overall effect may also take time

The race is very close to:

• In Michiganwhere the final result is not expected until the end of Wednesday
• In Arizonawhere a complete calculation can take days
• Nevadawhere the total amount can take days

In some presidential races, the winner is announced late on election night, or early the next morning.

There were fears that what appears to be a hacking race in many states may be too strange for the media to quickly reveal a winner this time. A narrow victory could also tell.

Instead, the results were announced in many battleground states much faster than predicted – allowing the media to present Trump or Harris as the winner in some of them.

But it could take days or weeks for the final detailed election results to be officially certified in all states.

Legal challenges are also possible. More than 100 pre-election lawsuits have already been filed, mostly by Republicans challenging voter eligibility and the administration of voter rolls.

Counting can take time, with verification of votes needing to be compared with the numbers of active voters; removing, uncovering and inspecting every single ballot for tears, stains or damage; and documenting and investigating any conflicts.

On the other hand, vote counting has increased in some areas, including the key state of Michigan, and fewer ballots have been cast than in the last election, which was during the Covid crisis.

In the 2020 election, the US TV networks did not announce Joe Biden the winner until four days after the election day, when the result of Pennsylvania became more clear.

In one recent election, voters had a very short wait.

In 2016, Trump was declared the winner just before 03:00 EST (08:00 GMT) a few hours after the polls closed.

In 2012, when Barack Obama won a second term, his victory was seen before midnight on the same night of election day.

However, the 2000 election between George W Bush and Al Gore was different. The race was not decided for five weeks, when the US Supreme Court voted to end the Florida recount. That kept Bush in place as the winner and gave him the White House.

Once all valid votes have been included in the final results, a process known as the electoral college begins.

In each state a different number of electoral college votes can be won, and it is this guarantee – not just the support of the voters themselves – that will ultimately win the presidency.

Generally, states award all of their electoral college votes to whoever wins the popular vote and this is confirmed after the December 17 caucuses.

The new US Congress then convenes on January 6 to count the electoral college votes and confirm the new president.

After the 2020 election, Trump refused to concede and rallied his supporters to march on the US Capitol as Congress convened to confirm Biden's victory.

He urged his Vice President, Mike Pence, to reject the results – but Pence refused.

Even after the impasse was cleared and members of Congress were reconvened, 147 Republicans voted without success to reverse Trump's loss.

Electoral changes since then have made it difficult for lawmakers to contest the guaranteed results sent to them from individual states. They also clarified that the vice president does not have the power to reject the election votes unilaterally.

However, election watchers expect efforts to delay the 2024 vote's ratification to take place at the local and state levels.

Trump, his running mate JD Vance and top Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have repeatedly refused to say outright that they will accept the results if he loses.

The president-elect will begin his term of office after his inauguration on Monday, 20 January 2025, at the US Capitol complex.

He will be the 60th president in US history.

At this event, the new president will be sworn in with a promise to uphold the Constitution and deliver his first speech.