Hillary Clinton has refused to yet concede defeat as Donald Trump looks set to be elected the 45th President of the United States.
Trump apparent victory has sent shockwaves around the world - with most observers having placed faith in the polls which showed Clinton was on course to win.
The Republican won important battleground states including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.
But with votes still being counted across the country, Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta, told her supporters in New York she would not yet admit defeat.
“We’re not going to have anything more to say tonight,” he said on stage at the campaign’s HQ .He encouraged supporters to go home and “get some sleep”.
“We are so proud of you, and we are so proud of her. She has done an amazing job and she is not done yet,” Podesta said.
Trump smashed Clinton’s election “firewall” with victories in states including Wisconsin and Michigan - areas that Barack Obama held two elections in a row, and were thought to be safe.
As the realisation Trump was on course to be elected the 45 president, stock markets tanked, the dollar plunged and many commentators compared the result to ‘Brexit’ and the anti-Establishment anger that fuelled Britain’s exit from the EU.
Trump ran one of the most divisive campaigns in recent memory. He was revealed to have boasted about sexually assaulting women, mocked the disabled, proposed banning all Muslims from the United States, criticised the parents of an American solider killed in Iraq and lied about having supported the war, questioned the impartiality of a judge based on their ethnicity, made fun of a Republican Senator who had been a prisoner during Vietnam, praised Vladimir Putin, refused to rule out dropping nuclear weapons on Europe, encouraged violence against protestors, claimed the election was rigged and suggested he would not accept the result.
But his “drain the swamp” refrain appeared to strike a chord - particularly with white, working-class non-college-educated voters - as Clinton was dogged by allegations she had improperly used a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.