Former presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has recorded a message to hail Joe Biden's "apparent victory" in the race to the White House.

In video posted to Twitter, Sanders said the election was about whether "we end pathological lying in the White House" or "retain democracy and the rule of law in our country - and thank God, it appears that we have done that".

"Tonight, as we celebrate Joe Biden’s apparent election victory, we understand that our struggle is not over," he said. "It has just begun."

According to the BBC's tally, Biden has reached 253 of the 270 electoral college votes needed to win. While no final result has been announced, he also appears to be ahead in the remaining swing states.

Prosecutors have charged two men who were carrying weapons near the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where ballots from the election are still being counted.

The two men were arrested on Thursday after the FBI received a tip-off about an armed group travelling to the city from Virginia. They were not authorised to carry the weapons in Pennsylvania.

According to ABC news, their vehicle displayed a sticker promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory.

As we've already reported, police in the city were forced to evacuate an area near the convention centre on Friday after receiving a bomb threat. However, a search revealed no explosives.

Supporters of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have been holding protests in the city as the ballot count continues. Pennsylvania, with its 20 electoral votes, is a key battleground state that looks set to determine the course of the election.

Image source, Reuters

If you're just joining us in our rolling coverage of the US election, welcome. You may be surprised to see we're still waiting to have a confirmed winner from the US presidential election on 3 November.

Vote counting continues slowly but the trend shows Democratic candidate Joe Biden doing better than incumbent President Donald Trump. There are just 17 electoral college votes separating Biden from the 270 needed to win the White House.

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, the margin is razor thin - with just over 4,395 votes separating the two candidates. Officials there have said there will be a recount

President Donald Trump didn't appear in public on Friday but he warned Biden on Twitter not to claim victory, saying that legal proceedings were "just now beginning".

Find out more about the results in the remaining states in our guide here.

As we wait, and keep waiting, for the final ballots to be called, some New Yorkers are celebrating already.

Some of the city's voters have flooded the streets for an impromptu dance party to celebrate Joe Biden's expanding lead.

Barbara Plett Usher
BBC News, Wilmington

Joe Biden delivered a holding speech rather than a victory speech. But he hit all the familiar themes that will no doubt feature if and when he addresses the nation as president-elect.

He’s been remarkably consistent throughout the campaign - that’s part of his appeal in these chaotic times. He hailed the election results so far as a broad mandate for change, although they’re not the resounding repudiation of President Donald Trump the Democrats had hoped for.

Once again he presented himself as a leader who believes in America, who could unify a bitterly divided country.

In the same breath, he nodded to his own impatience for an outcome, and presented a stark contrast to President Trump’s false claims of voter fraud. Watching the ballot tallies is “slow and numbing,” he said, but they represent people who “exercised the fundamental right to have their voices heard”.

Everyone is waiting for more vote count updates - but some other numbers also tell a very interesting story - one about ethnicity and politics.

Here's how exit polls in Pennsylvania and Georgia characterise the breakdown of supporters.

In Pennsylvania, Biden supporters were 76% white, 15% black, 7% Latino and 1% Asian. For context, the state is 81% white, according to the US Census.

Trump's support, meanwhile, came from far more white voters - 97% - and just 1% of black voters, 2% of Latino Pennsylvanians and less than 1% of Asian voters.

Seven percent of Biden voters also said they had voted for Trump in 2016; 4% of Trump voters said they had voted for Clinton.

In Georgia, which is 60% white and 32% black, Biden found overwhelming support from non-white voters.

Exit polls showed those who voted for him were 53% black, 35% white, 8% Latino and 2% Asian.

Trump again did better among white voters - his supporters were 85% white, 7% black, 6% Latino and 1% Asian.

Overall, Biden won 35% of the white Georgia vote and 65% of the non-white vote compared to Trump's 85% support from white voters and 15% from non-whites.

Image source, Reuters

The coronavirus crisis led to millions of voters casting postal ballots for the first time - but the rules can be confusing.

Just one missing or mismatched signature may be enough for a ballot to become invalid, and many voters will not be aware until it's too late.

For this reason, a number of states have a system of "cured votes", meaning that voters will be notified of issues with their ballots and offered to opportunity to make them valid.

Usually this involves signing and returning an affidavit within a fixed period of time, and cured votes are completely legal in the states that allow them.

In states without such a process, ballots with missing or mismatched signatures will usually not be counted.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

As the United States waits with bated breath for the presidential election result, the Covid-19 pandemic rages on.

On Friday, the country set a new record for the third consecutive day, with 127,000 new cases, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

This brings the total number of US cases to nearly 10 million.

The US remains the worst hit country in the world in terms of cases and deaths, with over 236,000 reported fatalities.There has been a surge of new cases in Midwestern states, with North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin all considered new hotspots.

Texas is inching closer to the one million case mark, outpacing California as the state with the highest number of total cases.

But while the coronavirus was a top issue for many voters, exit polls from Tuesday's election suggested that the economy was the most important in influencing votes.

Image source, Reuters

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has tested positive for coronavirus, US media are reporting.

The news comes a month after President Donald Trump was taken to hospital with Covid-19 - before recovering within days.

More than 236,000 people have died with coronavirus in the US since the pandemic began and 9.7 million Americans have been infected.

The Democratic presidential nominee wrapped up his remarks after about seven minutes, ending with: "God bless you and may God bless our troops".

The message was one of confidence that he will win the presidency. Biden took a forward-looking stance, describing his priorities.

The 74m votes cast for him and his running mate Kamala Harris will give them a mandate to address coronavirus, the economy, climate change and systemic racism, he said.

He urged Americans to look beyond divisions that have run deep this election to work toward "a more perfect union".

Finally, he urged patience and trust in the democratic system. "We're proving again what we've proved for 244 years in this country - democracy works," he said. "Your vote will be counted. I don't care how hard people try to stop it."

As the counting process drags on, Biden asks for patience. "We need to remain calm" and let the process work out, he says.

"Your vote will be counted, I don't care how hard people try to stop it, I will not let it happen."

To close, Biden returns to an animating theme of his campaign: Unity.

"We have serious problems. We don't have any time to waste on partisan warfare," he says.

"There is no reason we can't own the 21st Century, we just need to remember who we are."

Image source, Getty Images

"Tensions are high after tough election," Biden said, acknowledging deep divisions in the country amid the turmoil caused by coronavirus, economic disruption and a difficult campaign.

However, he called for Americans to "put anger and demonisation behind us".

"We have serious problems, we don't have any more time to waste on partisan warfare.

"We may be opponents, but we’re not enemies."

He called for unity and said he would govern for all Americans. His speech did not mention Donald Trump except to say that he was ahead of the incumbent in votes.

Image source, Getty Images

Biden turns to Covid-19, as the US faces unmitigated outbreaks throughout the country.

He promises action on the virus on day one of his presidency, as cases mount.

The daily case numbers surpassed 100,000 for a third day in a row - setting a new record.

The Democrat notes that he believes his ticket is on course to win over 300 electoral college votes. He expects the Biden/Harris ticket to win Arizona and Georgia - two traditionally Republican states - for the Democrats for the first time in over two decades, he says, and they have "rebuilt the blue wall" by winning back Midwestern states lost to Trump in 2016.

"We'll win this race with clear majority of nation behind us," he said.

He said the results were a clear mandate for his presidency.

Image source, Reuters

Speaking now, Joe Biden says he will win this race "with a clear majority, with the nation behind us".

He stops short of a final declaration of victory.

"We've gotten over 74 million votes, that's more than any presidential ticket has ever gotten in the history of the United States of America."

And Biden has now begun his speech.

And in the past few minutes, another update from Allegheny county in Pennsylvania has added more votes to Biden's tally - he now has 28,833 more than President Donald Trump.

Biden's motorcade has arrived at Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware, where the former vice-president is due to speak from.

Joe Biden is due to speak from Wilmington, Delaware, as his lead in the crucial state of Pennsylvania has expanded to over 27,000 votes.

With a new tranche of postal ballots counted in Allegheny county, the second-most populous in the Keystone state containing the city of Pittsburgh, the Democrat has inched ever closer to clinching Pennsylvania's 20 electoral college votes. That would enable him to become president of the US.

Image source, Reuters

There's a lot going on in Georgia.

A recount will be held there in the presidential race, after Joe Biden edged ahead of Donald Trump by a margin of about 4,000 votes.

But Georgia's Senate races have also become nail-biters as the contests for the state's two seats are now due to go to run-offs in January.

Under the state's rules - different to most - Senate candidates must receive 50% of the vote to win the seat.

This did not happen in either contest.

Republican incumbent, David Perdue is expected to face Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff in one race, and in the other, Republican incumbent, Kelly Loeffler will run-off against Democrat Raphael Warnock.

If both Democrats pull off wins, they could hand control of the US Senate to their party.

The races will be decided on 5 January - just over two weeks before the next president's inauguration.

And while the Trump/Biden face-off might be the topic on everyone's mind right now - the results of these twin run-offs while have serious implications for how much the eventual winner can get done.

Laura Trevelyan
BBC World News America presenter

The festive mood here from a few hours ago is wearing off, and instead a weariness is setting in, as people who gathered hoping to say goodbye to President Trump realise they can’t celebrate a Joe Biden win quite yet.

Nefra Bruzal and Fraser Killin were hopeful this afternoon, and now they’re wondering why it’s taking so long to count the votes.

Fraser fears that Trump will somehow muddy the waters with his lawsuits. Nefra feels the outpouring of activism for racial justice after George Floyd’s death has helped get America to the brink of saying goodbye to the man she calls a racist, xenophobic president - and now she wants to get to that moment.

Fraser can’t be confident there will be a peaceful transfer of power even if Trump loses - "look at him, walled in behind that fence," he says, gesticulating to the security perimeter that’s been put up between the White House and the Black Lives Matter plaza.

"He’s digging in," says Fraser, wearily.