Image source, Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Though Hillary Clinton's campaign was apprehensive about calling her the presumptive Democratic nominee before "Super Tuesday", the candidate has enjoyed a comfortable lead over Bernie Sanders for the past several weeks.

Mrs Clinton had won the biggest states - including Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois - as well as the most votes. 

Mrs Clinton has won about 13 million votes so far in the primaries and caucuses compared with Mr Sanders' 10 million. According to the Associated Press, she now has the support of 1,812 pledged delegates and 571 superdelegates - adding up to the 2,383 needed to become the presumptive nominee.

Though much of the election on Tuesday was focused on California, it's important to note that Clinton also added the ninth-largest delegate prize in New Jersey.

After triumphs in New Jersey and New Mexico, Hillary Clinton is also the apparent winner in South Dakota.

Hillary Clinton's daughter, Chelsea Clinton, and husband, former President Bill Clinton, tweeted their support for the presumptive Democratic nominee following her speech in Brooklyn. 

The presumptive Republican nominee has continued his latest string of victories with a win in California, US media project.

Donald Trump has won the Republican primary in Montana, US media project. 

The presumptive Republican nominee was also projected to win primaries in New Jersey, South Dakota and New Mexico.

Mr Trump has already secured more than the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination before Tuesday's elections. 

New Jersey offers 51 delegates, Montana will add 27 and South Dakota gives 29 delegates. All three states are winner-take-all states for the Republican primary.

The biggest prize is in California, which has 172 delegates to offer. The results in this state have not yet been called.

Image source, Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

The results are starting to come in thick and fast now. Hillary Clinton has won in New Mexico, US media project. And we're standing by for news from California, where the polls have just closed. It has the greatest number of delegates up for grabs of all the states voting in this final "Super Tuesday" of the primary season.

Image source, AP

Image source, Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Thanking her supporters, Mrs Clinton said America was witnessing a historical moment - "the first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee"'.

She added that the victory belonged "to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible".

Mrs Clinton thanked Bernie Sanders for his "extraordinary campaign," saying the vigorous debate between the two candidates had been good for the Democratic party and America.

She then turned her attention to lambasting Donald Trump. 

"We believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment and bridges are better than walls," she said before the crowd erupted into cheers. 

“Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be president", she said. "And he’s not just trying to build a wall [with] Mexico, he’s trying to wall off Americans from each other."

Hillary Clinton has claimed victory as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. Speaking to ecstatic supporters in Brooklyn, she said a milestone had been reached in US history. 

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

Donald Trump gave the kind of primary night speech that will be well received by Republicans politicians who have spent the last week in a cave or a coma.

For the rest of the party faithful – who have watched as their presumptive nominee has been buffeted by allegations that he made racist comments targeting a US judge – they will likely be more inclined to wait and see.

Image source, Getty Images

Mr Trump, speaking from a Teleprompter, focused almost exclusively on the kind of economic issues that will play well in the mid-western Rust Belt states where the election will likely be decided. 

Gone were references to Muslim immigration bans or border walls. Instead he made an explicit pitch to Bernie Sanders supporters and other Americans disaffected by the current state of the US political system.He also promised to take dead aim at the Clintons, who he said have “turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form”. 

Just a week ago Mrs Clinton bludgeoned Mr Trump in a speech where she he was “temperamentally unfit” to be president. Mr Trump is about to return fire. The general election race is just getting started, and it’s going to be brutal.  

Bernie Sanders has won in North Dakota, US media project. Although he will be pleased with another victory, the big prize tonight is California, which has a much higher delegate count. You can follow the results as they come in from the six states here.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Donald Trump turned his attention to November in his remarks at Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, New York.

“We’re only getting started and it’s gonna be beautiful,” Mr Trump said.

The presumptive Republican candidate called on Sanders supporters to join him. 

"All those Bernie Sanders voters who've been left out in the cold by a rigged system, we welcome you with open arms", he said. 

Mr Trump didn't stop short of attacking Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, accusing the pair of turning "the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves".

He added he was planning a "very informative" speech "probably on Monday" to discuss "all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons".

Mr Sanders has been saying he is going to keep fighting for the nomination until the Democratic convention in July, even though it's been made clear that his chances of getting the nomination are nearly nonexistent.

He has railed against the Democrats' use of superdelegates, most of whom are likely to support Mrs Clinton, and tried to get them to come to his side.

Despite all the signs that his bid for president is over, he's pushing through. A statement from his campaign urges supporters to turn out for the District of Columbia's primary on 14 June, despite some Democratic colleagues and media commentators urging him to give it up.

Hillary Clinton may be expecting celebrations tonight, but eight years ago to the day, she conceded the nomination to Barack Obama. 

"Although we were not able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling, thanks to you it has got about 18 million cracks in it," she told supporters at the time, referring to how many votes she won in the 2008 primaries.

Hillary Clinton is expected to speak shortly at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where she'll claim the presumptive Democratic nomination and tout her role as the first female presidential candidate in US history.

Mrs Clinton's campaign has released this YouTube video trumpeting the milestone.

According to a campaign official, Mrs Clinton will use her speech to emphasise the historic moment for gender equality and put it in the context of historical progress for the country.

Mrs Clinton is also expected to contrast her vision of breaking down barriers and being stronger together with what she will call the divisive, destructive and dangerous vision of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.  

But as BBC's Katty Kay pointed out, though Mrs Clinton's candidacy marks a watershed moment, her familiar face in politics makes it difficult for some voters to celebrate.

Image source, David McNew/Getty Images

Unsurprisingly, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has won New Jersey.

Even though Hillary Clinton looks likely to wrap up the Democratic nomination, California’s primary election result could expose the challenges she would face at the party's convention and the months leading up to November's election.

Nearly 650,000 people registered to vote in California in the 45 days prior to the primary registration deadline, marking the state's highest statewide voter registration before a primary election. About 18 million California residents were expected to vote in Tuesday's poll. 

Image source, Andrew Burton/Getty Images

An early snapshot of turnout in California showed more residents had cast their ballots this year than in 2012, but less than the number of people who came out in 2008.

Dean Logan, Los Angeles County's registrar-county clerk and elections chief, shared his preliminary findings.

The Orange County Registrar also tweeted a polling place sample earlier.

Wednesday's New York Daily News cover does not hold back in its indictment of House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has condemned Mr Trump's comments about a Mexican-American judge but not withdrawn his endorsement of the billionaire.

Over on CNN, a panel of commentators has been having a heated battle over Mr Trump's comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel.

Earlier top Republican Paul Ryan said Donald Trump made a "textbook racist comment" when he suggested a Mexican-American judge was biased against him.

Mr Trump said that US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is overseeing a lawsuit against the now defunct Trump University, would not treat him fairly because he was a Mexican opposed to his plans to build a wall between the US and Mexico. Here's how some other Republicans are reacting:

Senator Ted Cruz: "It's inappropriate to be attacking a federal judge's race or ethnicity. You're going to have to ask Donald to explain the reason he says the things he does. I'm not going to try to do so." 

Senator Marco Rubio: "That man is an American, born in the US, a judge who has earned that position. I don't think it reflects well in the Republican party. I don't think it reflects well on us as a nation. I ran for president and I warned this was going to happen." 

Ohio Governor John Kasich: Tweeted: "Attacking judges based on their race &/or religion is another tactic that divides our country. More importantly, it is flat out wrong. @realDonaldTrump should apologize to Judge Curiel & try to unite this country." 

Newt Gingrich: Mr Gingrich called the comments "inexcusable" and "one of the worst mistakes Trump has made". 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: "I couldn't disagree more with what he had to say. I don't agree with what he had to say. This is a man who was born in Indiana. All of us came here from somewhere else."