Democratic challenger Joe Biden pushed to make the president's handling of the coronavirus pandemic the key election issue, but exit poll data suggested more voters considered the economy - which has been battered by the virus - to be a bigger issue than the virus itself:

This is despite the US having the world's highest official Covid-19 death toll with more than 230,000 deaths.

And the epidemic is showing no signs of slowing down. On Friday, as the country held its breath for an election result, the US reported a third straight daily record for new cases, with more than 127,000 recorded infections.

More than 9.7 million cases have been confirmed so far, the highest total in the world. The growth in infections slowed in August, but has been rising since September, driven by renewed outbreaks in the Midwest - including in states that have been key battlegrounds in this presidential contest.

Image source, Getty Images

Joe Biden is leading in Nevada with 22,657 votes, with 91% of the count complete according to our results system. The state - worth six electoral college votes - could be a very important win for Biden as he edges towards victory.

While many rural areas are leaning towards Trump, Biden is winning in the most populous counties and although his lead remains narrow, he has been expanding it.

Most of the ballots yet to be counted are in Clark County - a Democratic-leaning area that includes Las Vegas.

Emotions are running high. Crowds of Trump supporters gathered outside the Clark County Election Center on Thursday and Friday nights, for what were dubbed "Stop The Steal" protests. There has been no evidence to support their allegations of voter fraud.

More vote results are expected in Nevada later on Saturday, and the state expects full results to be in by the end of the weekend.

While there has been frustration - and plenty of memes (see below) - surrounding the slow pace of counting in Nevada, officials have said accuracy takes precedent over speed due to the huge number of mail-in ballots this year. (You can thank the coronavirus for that, as for so much else...)

Image source, Getty Images

CNN anchor John King has become one of the stars of this election. His clear and composed delivery at his electoral results touch-screen - better known as the "magic wall" - has gained him a captive audience and widespread admiration.

In a glowing article, the LA Times described him as the "master of election maps", external and declared him this election's MVP - baseball lingo meaning Most Valuable Player.

His marathon performances on air - 12-14 hour stints - have been accompanied only by tiny bursts of sleep. He told Vanity Fair, external on Friday he had managed under 10 hours' sleep since the election.

King, who's been using his magic wall on CNN since 2008, is of course getting plenty of praise on Twitter, too.

"John King is flawless. Literally. His knowledge is unmatched. He is fair and his poise puts viewers at ease," tweeted sports journalist Taylor Rooks, external.

Some even think of him as family.

"CNN has been on in our house for so long my daughter thinks that John King is a family member," said the Economist's 1843 magazine journalist Abby Fielding-Smith, external.

And some weren't sure how he just kept going.

"John King isn’t human is he? What is he powered by? I can’t get enough of these pure unadulterated facts," tweeted the Irish Times' Jennifer Bray, external.

Well, at least we know amid all the election madness he managed (at least once) to stop for some lunch:

Different news sites can use different polling data - which creates different estimates of who's won what - and it all gets a bit confusing.

The BBC's data is supplied by Reuters, via polling firm Edison Research, which does the field work for the exit polls and works with US television networks in the National Election Pool.

Why are some sites saying Biden's won?

Yesterday, a different election analysis group, Decision Desk HQ, declared Joe Biden the president-elect after projecting a victory in Pennsylvania. So outlets that use its info – such as Vox and Business Insider – have run with that.

Meanwhile, other decision desks at the Associated Press and Fox News have already projected a Biden win in Arizona, which leaves Biden's tally of electoral college votes at 264, rather than 253 - the BBC's figure.

We haven't yet projected a winner for Arizona or Pennsylvania because we consider it too early.

You can see the full results so far here.

Image source, Reuters

We've been waiting days for this election result, and it's exhausting whatever you want to happen.

But so far it doesn't compare to the endurance feat that was the 2000 presidential election, which took 35 days to produce a result.

You may remember that the winner, George W Bush, was decided by the Supreme Court - the only time this has happened.

On election day, 7 November, Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote, but things were closer in the Electoral College. Everything hinged on how Florida doled out its 25 electoral votes.

The race was close enough to trigger a recount. Gore's team asked for four counties to do that by hand, prompting an appeal by the Bush camp.

Weeks later, on 12 December, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Bush along party lines 5-4, sending him to the White House.

And at the risk of scaring you all, Bush-Gore wasn't even the longest wait.

The 1876 election took just shy of four months to finalise - currently the US record.

That election was held on 7 November and the result wasn't decided until 2 March 1877, only a few days before inauguration.

Republican Rutherford Hayes was declared the winner by one electoral college vote over Democrat Samuel Tilden, after a bi-partisan committee was brought in to sort it out.

Here's how things stand in the states that still have ballots to count.

We're expecting more results from Pennsylvania at around 09:00e (14:00 UK time), which could prove significant for Joe Biden. At time of writing, BBC results show about 96% of ballots have been counted in the state.

You can see our results in full here. (We have maps!)

Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji, appears to have called the election in favour of Joe Biden - even though votes are still being counted.

The Pacific nation's leader tweeted his congratulations, and said he hoped the Democrat would play a part in saving the planet from the climate emergency.

Fiji produces less than 1% of the globe's carbon emissions, yet rising sea levels, coastal erosion and intense storm surges are having a dramatic effect on the country.

Under Donald Trump, the US became the first nation in the world to formally withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

The Paris deal was drafted in 2015 to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change.

Biden has said he would seek to re-join as soon as possible, if elected president.

Bainimarama's tweet comes after Slovenia's PM Janez Jansa took to Twitter on Wednesday to congratulate Trump for winning the election. Twitter put a warning on Jansa's tweet, saying: “Official sources may not have called the race when this was Tweeted.”

Image source, Reuters

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch's US outlets and the man himself have long been seen as keen Donald Trump supporters - but there may be a change of tone afoot.

Murdoch's Fox News, the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal all seem to be preparing their audiences for his defeat, and distancing themselves from the president.

Fox News angered Trump on election night by calling Arizona for Democrat Joe Biden. Since then, the network has largely stepped around the president's unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud.

"We just haven't seen it. It hasn't been presented to us," Fox News host Brett Baier said on air on Friday.

That said, Fox star Sean Hannity, who's close to Trump, declared on Thursday evening: "Americans have every right to be suspicious... to distrust the legitimacy of the results."

Though Trump has repeatedly questioned the integrity of the vote, he has offered no evidence of fraud. Election observers engaged to ensure a free and fair process have said they witnessed nothing untoward.

Fox, which helped Trump to power in 2016, seems to be preparing viewers for a Trump exit - and offering advice on how he should go about it.

Host Laura Ingraham, also seen as close to Trump, said on air: “If and when it's time to accept an unfavourable outcome in this election, and we hope it never comes, but if and when that does happen, President Trump needs to do it with the same grace and composure he demonstrated at that town hall with Savannah Guthrie. So many people remarked about his tone and presence. Exactly what he needs.

"Now losing, especially when you believe the process wasn’t fair, it’s a gut punch. And I’m not conceding anything tonight, by the way. But losing, if that’s what happens - it's awful. But President Trump's legacy will only become more significant if he focuses on moving the country forward."

Murdoch's newspaper the Wall Street Journal has carried an opinion piece, entitled The Presidential Endgame, external, with a similar message.

"Mr Trump hates to lose, and no doubt he will fight to the end. But if defeat comes, he will serve himself and his country best by honoring America’s democratic traditions and leaving office with dignity," it said.

And Murdoch's tabloid New York Post ran two opinion pieces on Friday that made the assumption that Trump would probably lose the election.

As the vote count drags on, the Post has not embraced any of Trump's unsubstantiated statements about voter fraud and the election being stolen from him.

If the waiting's doing your head in, spare a thought for the election officials, who must feel like they're stuck in a ballot-filled, dystopian Ground Hog Day.

From North Carolina to Pennsylvania, the weary counters have a plea: Please, be patient with us...

If you're just joining our rolling coverage of the US election, welcome. It feels like we've been waiting since US independence, but with votes still being counted in six states, we can't call the White House race yet.

Joe Biden is inching towards victory over Donald Trump, with just 17 electoral college votes separating Biden from the 270 needed to win.

In a speech on Friday night, Biden stopped short of declaring outright victory, but said he is set to win the election "with a clear majority, with the nation behind us". However, he acknowledged the country's divisions and urged Americans to "put anger and demonisation behind us", adding: "We may be opponents, but we’re not enemies."

Biden is ahead of Trump in the remaining battleground states, which are key to victory:

• Pennsylvania, where Biden is currently leading by 28,883 ballots, has the largest number of electoral college votes of any of the remaining states and winning there alone would push Biden above 270
• It's a similar gap in Arizona, where Biden is ahead of Trump by 29,861 votes
• The Democratic candidate is also in the lead in Nevada, with 22,657 votes

• While Biden is also in front in Georgia, his lead is razor thin - with 7,248 votes separating the two candidates. Officials there have also confirmed there will be a recount due to the narrow margin.

Christopher Giles
BBC Reality Check

Image source, Getty Images

During his speech last night, Joe Biden highlighted the coronavirus pandemic, claiming it “is getting more worrisome all across the country”, and pointing to the rising number of cases.

Biden is certainly correct to say that confirmed cases nationally are rising significantly.

There were 117,998 confirmed cases on 5 November, according to the CDC.

That’s the highest number recorded since the pandemic began (although a lack of testing in the initial months of the outbreak means cases were under-reported then). A month ago, daily confirmed cases were around 40,000.

And a seven-day rolling average of cases shows an upward trend.

The CDC “predicts that 450,000 to 960,000 new cases will likely be reported during the week ending November 28, 2020.” Cases are on the increase in nearly every state, and the current death toll is 236,099, according to John Hopkins University.

Biden also mentioned the economy and said “more than 20 million people are on unemployment.”

That actually slightly understates the case. According to the latest figures, external from the US Department of Labor, about 21.5 million Americans are claiming some sort of unemployment benefit.

We also fact-checked President Trump’s speech here.

Image source, Getty Images

Top Republican Mitch McConnell has said there will definitely be a peaceful transfer of power if Joe Biden wins the presidential election.

"Of course," McConnell responded to questions from reporters in Kentucky, where he sits as a senator.

"We've had a peaceful transfer of power going back to 1792, every four years, we've moved on to a new administration."

McConnell's comments follow mixed messages from Donald Trump, however. The president initially refused to commit to such a handover earlier this year, then last month said he would support a smooth transition.

"Peaceful transfer ... I absolutely want that, but ideally, I don't want a transfer because I want to win," Trump said at the time.

Since 3 November he has repeatedly accused Democrats of trying to "steal" the election, without offering evidence, and vowed to challenge vote counts in key states.

It's looking increasingly good for Joe Biden in the battleground state of Georgia. He continues to lead the vote count - and his lead is increasing.

Overnight Biden was ahead by more than 4,000 votes with 99% of the ballots counted.

Now the Democratic challenger is 7,248 votes ahead, according to BBC data.

Georgia (with 16 electoral college votes) is traditionally a Republican state, and has not been won by a Democrat in a presidential race since 1992.

Image source, Reuters

Temporary flight restrictions have been extended over Joe Biden's house in Wilmington, Delaware.

There has been a one-mile radius Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) around the Biden home since he became Democratic nominee, at the request of the Secret Service.

But on 4 November that radius was expanded to three miles, and on Friday the order was extended until at least 11 November.

Violators face up to 12 months in federal prison or fines up to $100,000 (£76,000), in addition to having their pilot's licence suspended or revoked.

The flight restrictions probably shouldn't be seen as predicting any outcomes, as it's normal to take precautions around high-profile political figures.

However, the security detail for a president-elect would certainly be bigger in size and scope - so if Biden does acquire that status we can expect his cover to increase.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

If you were sleeping, (as opposed to say, staring fixedly at screens), you might have missed the news a few hours ago that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has tested positive for Covid-19, becoming the latest member of Donald Trump's inner circle to get coronavirus.

It is not immediately clear how Meadows - who has often appeared at public events without a face mask - was infected.

The disease has now killed some 230,000 Americans. The US set a third straight daily record for new cases on Friday, with more than 127,000 infections.

The country's coronavirus outbreak was a key policy battleground in the election run-up, and contributed to a surge in postal and early in-person voting.

Read more here

Donald Trump's Twitter call to 'STOP THE COUNT!' has prompted an array of memes and sarcasm on social media.

English football team Southampton called for an end to counting after finding themselves in pole position in the Premier League on Friday night, following a 2-0 victory over Newcastle United.

This Mexican cartoonist showed Trump saying the phrase in Spanish while out for the count in a boxing ring.

And one grad student in Louisiana called for the same logic to be applied to America's gigantic student debt.

Image source, Reuters

Fundraising site GoFundMe has taken down a conservative campaigner's page after he sought cash to investigate unfounded claims of voter fraud.

Matt Braynard, who worked as a political consultant on Donald Trump's 2016 presidential bid, tweeted that he had data on absentee ballots and early voters in swing states, and wanted to compare it with Social Security and change-of-address databases to identify illegal votes.

He said he had been unable to secure funding for his research from either Trump's re-election campaign or the Republican party.

Braynard said he had managed to raise $220,000 (£167,000) before the page was taken down for breaking GoFundMe's terms and conditions.

According to Politico, the company said the fundraiser had attempted "to spread misleading information about the election and has been removed", adding that all donations would be refunded.

In response, Braynard said he had created a new page on a different fundraising platform.

Trump has made repeated claims of voter fraud - most often regarding mail ballots - and has spoken about the process being "rigged" throughout the campaign. But there is no evidence of systematic fraudulence or irregularities in this year's election.

We've fact-checked these and other claims the president has made about the election here.

Image source, Getty Images

Team Trump have vowed to make a series of legal challenges to key election results, and reports suggest they've found the man to lead the charge:

David Bossie, the president's 2016 deputy campaign manager.

Bossie is a 30-year veteran of partisan Washington scraps, and was Donald Trump's deputy campaign manager in 2016.

Since 2000, he has been president of the lobby group Citizens United. Under his watch, that conservative group secured a landmark Supreme Court ruling granting corporations the same free-speech rights as individuals - and saying these rights could be exercised through political donations.

Trump's team were said to want someone like James Baker - a lawyer and senior Republican figure who led the George W Bush team in the 2000 Florida recount that won him the White House.

Bossie is not a lawyer - he dropped out of university to get a head start in politics - but he has all the characteristics the Trump camp seems to appreciate: outspokenness, pugnaciousness and a flare for messaging.

Bossie is now expected to coordinate the campaign's claims of voting issues and irregularities. The president has made several such allegations in speeches and on Twitter since 4 November, without providing evidence of malpractice.

Image source, Getty Images

Joe Biden's team is reportedly stepping up its plans for a transition to the presidency as he edges closer to victory.

The first senior officials in a new Democrat-led White House could be named next week, the New York Times reports., external

Debates have been taking place in Washington and Wilmington, Delaware (where Biden's based) over who will fill the senior roles.

Biden could assemble the most diverse cabinet in US history, the paper reports.

“Men, women, gay, straight, center, across the board, Black, white, Asian,” Biden said when talking about his prospective cabinet earlier this year.

“It really matters that you look like the country, because everyone brings a slightly different perspective.”

The Democratic candidate is looking at his White House staff first, with cabinet posts not expected to be announced until the end of November, according to more than 12 sources who spoke to the Times.

Joe Biden is leading the vote count in Pennsylvania, and for some supporters in Philadelphia that's reason enough to get a party started.

On Friday a US Supreme Court justice denied a request by the state's Republicans to stop officials counting postal ballots that arrived after Election Day.

The full court will now consider the issue today - but it's considered unlikely the late-arriving ballots would affect the outcome in any case.