This is a final call. There's just a couple of minutes left to get the kettle on and make a cuppa (or whatever beverage takes your fancy). Get ready to take your seats - the show is about to begin.

BBC News Channel

Nick Clegg is taking it all in his stride tonight, reveals Lib Dem party president Tim Farron. It's not quite clear how he knows this, as he says he hasn't actually spoken to the party leader today - but he did send him a text earlier apparently.

"He has done this before. It's a shame we haven't had more of these in this campaign but you have to put that down to David Cameron chickening out," Mr Farron says.

What will be Mr Clegg's main message tonight? That the country desperately needs the Lib Dems in the next government, to make Britain fairer while also securing the economic recovery, he replies.

David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg have all arrived at Leeds Town Hall for the Question Time Election Leaders Special. They were all escorted into the building by the BBC's Director of News and Current Affairs, James Harding. David Cameron arrived first and he will be first to speak in the debate.

BBC News Channel

Labour leader Ed Miliband is on second tonight. How's he feeling? I think he's feeling very confident, Labour's shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint tells the BBC. She predicts the leader will confidently set out Labour's plan for Britain.

Hmm... unsurprisingly there seems to be a lot of confidence in the political air tonight.

What about the threat of the SNP in Scotland? The choice at this election is between David Cameron or Ed Miliband for prime minister - and only Ed can secure a fairer Britain, Ms Flint responds.

Challenged to offer more detail on how Labour would balance the books, Ms Flint says the party has said it will cut the deficit every year, and cites plans to cap child benefit and strip the winter fuel allowance from the wealthiest.

BBC News Channel

It's beginning to fill up in the spin room ahead of tonight's leaders' question time. With just half an hour to go, our chief political correspondent Vicki Young has been talking to senior Conservative William Hague.

Challenged over the party's plans to cut £8bn from welfare in the next parliament, Mr Hague says the PM will be able to give "clear answers" on that, but adds that the party has already given an "enormous amount" of detail on its fiscal plans and has a "track record" on making savings.

What do you make of Lib Dems leaking a document which they claim details Tory plans to cut child benefit? It's pretty "desperate", he says, adding that the election isn't going the Lib Dems' way.

Is the prime minister nervous about tonight? "He's very confident. He's put huge energy into the campaign," responds Mr Hague. His focus will be on showing how far the country has come over the past five years since we rescued the economy, he adds.

You can also watch via the Live Coverage tab above, while we'll be bringing you the latest reaction and analysis.

BBC Newsnight Index

Every evening during the course of the general election campaign, Newsnight is publishing an exclusive graphic illustrating the likely outcome based on a sophisticated forecast model.

Tonight's shows the Conservatives and SNP with one more seat than yesterday's prediction, both gained at the expense of Labour. No majority in sight, though.

The Newsnight Index is produced by Professor Chris Hanretty from the University of East Anglia and his colleagues at electionforecast.co.uk, external. For details of how the Index is produced, see Newsnight's YouTube video, external.

A Labour general election candidate has been suspended by the party after being found guilty of fraud.

Richard Garvie was convicted at Wellingborough Magistrates' Court after he paid for almost £900 of train tickets using a bank account he knew contained insufficient funds.

The would-be MP for Wellingborough said he intended to appeal against the verdict and was "quite confident that the paperwork will show that I have not done anything wrong".

But he conceded that he had been wrong not to inform the party when he was charged with the offence shortly before Christmas and accepted the disciplinary action.

A full list of candidates can be found on the BBC's constituency page .

The Economist and the Financial Times are the latest media outlets to declare their allegiances ahead of polling day on 7 May.

The former is backing the Conservatives - or at least a government led by David Cameron.

The magazine's Britain editor, Joel Budd, told BBC Radio 4's The World At One earlier: "We think again that a government at least led by David Cameron - if not necessarily a Conservative majority - is the best outcome.

Labour under Ed Miliband had become "worryingly interventionist" and "extremely statist", he said.

The FT also backs a Tory-led government, but it has called for tactical voting for the Liberal Democrats in some constituencies to produce a continuation of the 2010 coalition.

It comes after The Sun came out in favour of the Conservatives, while sister paper The Scottish Sun is supporting the SNP.

See entry at 14:30 BST on Newsnight Live.

Laura Kuenssberg
Newsnight Chief Correspondent

Image source, PA

In an interview to be broadcast on tonight's BBC Newsnight, the former Cabinet Secretary Lord Gus O’Donnell (nicknamed GOD by some politicians), says the probable success of the SNP will "put extra tension" on the union between Scotland and the rest of the UK, and that the union will be "subject to strains".

He also suggests the UK voting system is no longer fit for purpose.

“It looks likely the Conservatives will win England, the SNP will win in Scotland, and we will end up, quite possibly with Ed Miliband and Labour running the UK," he said.

"People will think at the end of this, are there better systems? On 8 May is this relationship between votes and seats so out of kilter that we should think again about it?”

Catch up with all the campaign action via our video round-up .

Rob:

Laurence:

Eddie Mair
PM on BBC Radio 4

In Italy polling is banned for a fortnight before polling day and in France for the final 48 hours. BBC Radio 4's PM has been asking if it would be a good idea to ban opinion polls in the UK in the final week? Tom Waterhouse who was a Conservative party agent and now runs a blog - theballotboxblog.com - says he loves opinion polls but is concerned that they can end up shaping public opinion.

He says: