"Is this Michelle O'Neill first minister?" asks BBC News NI's Tara Mills.

"It's very early to say - let's get all the votes counted and then we will come back to that," says Ms O'Neill.

"We did say this was going to be an election about the future. It is potentially going to be a historic election for many reasons but I think it was because people wanted us to talk about how we would work in partnership with others," she says.

"That's the only way we achieve more for people here in terms of cost of living or fixing the health service - that's the message we got on the doors.

"I am grateful to the voters who put their vote behind Sinn Féin candidates

"It's going to be a positive election for the party but there's a while to go," she adds.

Alliance leader Naomi Long and the DUP's Joanne Bunting have been elected in Belfast East.

Mrs Long topped the poll.

Image source, PA

Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O'Neill has been elected with 10,845 first preference votes in Mid Ulster.

Unofficially - it's looking like former DUP politician Alex Easton, who is now independent, has topped the poll.

"The quota seems to be about 7,033 and I seem to be heading towards the 9,000 mark," he tells the BBC adding that he is "quietly happy".

But will he go back to his former party - the DUP - if it asks him to?

"I was elected as an independent unionist and I have no plans to go back to the DUP," he says.

He says that if numbers are tight between the DUP and SF the DUP has other options such as the TUV to talk to.

He says there are a few members in his former party who would be happy to have him back and adds that there are probably a few who wouldn't.

"I will talk to all shades of unionist but I am planning to stay as an independent unionist".

"I made the right decision for North Down and for me," he says, adding that it seems like the DUP may be holding on better than some of the pundits thought they would.

Gerry Kelly and Carál Ní Chuilín have been elected in Belfast North.

Mr Kelly won 8,395 first preference votes and Ms Ní Chuilín won 7,932.

The quota was 7,672.

Sinn Féin's Danny Baker has been elected in Belfast West with 9,011 votes.

The quota is 7,278.

The DUP's Gavin Robinson has made clear that the "door is open" to Alex Easton should he wish to return to the party.

Mr Robinson told the BBC that Mr Easton, who is now an Independent and is topping the poll in North Down, will have some questions to consider over the coming days.

Mr Easton quit the DUP after 21 years as a member last July.

He said he was at the "end of his tether" and saw no "respect, discipline or decency" in the behaviour within the DUP.

His announcement came just hours after the party met to ratify Sir Jeffrey Donaldson as its new leader.

However, Mr Easton could come under pressure to rejoin the party to help it boost its seat numbers.

Mr Robinson said: “If you take a wider unionist view and what is important for unionism in Northern Ireland, there may be a challenge for Alex in the next day or two as to whether he decides the future of this country is more important than staying outside of the fold.”

"He is an honourable man," Mr Robinson said, "and the door is open, as you know, and if he is reciprocal in those discussions then no doubt they will take place."

Green Party leader Clare Bailey, who could be at risk of losing her South Belfast seat, is keeping optimistic at the Titanic counting centre.

She says winning her seat has always come down to transfers.

"We're seeing South Belfast be South Belfast in terms of the vote," she says.

"Back in 2016 when I was first elected we were waiting on the transfers to get across the line.

"We secured the seat and we held it in 2017, but again we were right up to the wire when they reduced the seats to five.

"I think we're looking at a similar scenario again this time.

For her party, she says it'll "all come down to the transfers".

The Alliance Party's Kellie Armstrong has topped the first preference poll in Strangford and has become the first candidate to get elected.

She received 7,015 votes - the vote quota for the Strangford constituency is 6,811.

Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI political correspondent

It's really strange because East Antrim seemed to be moving very quickly earlier.

They had the fewest number of candidates standing - 10 - which doesn't always mean things will move the quickest but it can help.

We were told earlier that we would have the first round announced at about 1:30pm but closer to the time, I was getting messages to say there was a potential recount and then shortly before 2pm, a candidate called me to say that this was the case.

They don't yet know why or how long it will take.

Grainne Connolly
BBC News NI

It wouldn’t be an election without some technical difficulties, and that’s exactly what journalists have been faced with at Jordanstown count centre.

It’s been difficult to get access to WiFi on mobile phones, and printers on site aren’t working.

We’re hearing election staff will be printing off counts and other documents at Titanic count centre and driving them to Jordanstown.

The question is will that cause delays for counts being declared for the five constituencies?

Image source, Getty

Image source, Pacemaker

The Ulster Unionist Party's Mike Nesbitt is playing down those earlier comments about his seat being in trouble, saying some of his colleagues said he was "scoring well in some of the other areas".

"Until you get probably two rounds declared you don’t have a solid sense of what’s going to happen," he tells BBC News NI.

"The tally will give you an idea about first preferences but once you start getting transfers it can be like a game of pin ball – these votes disappear in all sorts of unexpected directions, so who knows."

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long has arrived in the Titanic count centre to great applause.

“It has been a good day so far,” she says

"We have had a positive campaign. We give people hope that things will be better”

Earlier, Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry said he was "cautiously optimistic" that his party would make gains.

He said chances of a second seat in North Down was "looking particularly encouraging".

"We're working off our own tallies at the moment, but what we're seeing is certainly giving us considerable cause for optimism."

The North Down MP believes independent unionist Alex Easton, who left the DUP last year, is likely to top the poll.

Enda McClafferty
BBC News NI political editor

There are familiar names in Northern Ireland politics out there who I would imagine are pretty nervous right now after looking a the figures coming back.

SDLP's Nichola Mallon in Belfast North could face a big battle to defend against the Alliance Party surge.

We're also hearing about the Green Party's Clare Bailey in Belfast South - what a story that would be if the leader of the Green Party lost her seat.

Her colleague Rachel Woods could also be in trouble in North Down.

We could have a Green Party wipeout here.

We're also hearing UUP's Mike Nesbitt in Strangford could struggle.

There are names and faces people would identify with who are in for a very long day.

Votes are being counted at three centres - in Belfast, Jordanstown, and Magherafelt - to decide how 90 seats are filled across 18 constituencies.

BBC News NI's cameras will be there every step of the way.

Ciara Colhoun
BBC News NI

Baby Faolán Oliver is likely the youngest person at this year’s assembly election count.

At just 10 days old, he’s in the arms of his mum, SDLP volunteer, Naomh Gallagher, at the Titanic Exhibition Centre.

Naomh said she was relieved Faolán Oliver arrived on time so she could provide number crunching support at the count.

Although she is hopeful the SDLP will retain seats, she said she ultimately wants “a government that will do something about the real issues affecting people such as the cost of living crisis”.

“It’s important my three children grow up in a Northern Ireland that works for them.”

So how long will Faolán hang around today?

“We will play it by ear,” says Naomh.

Image source, Getty

Early indications are that it may be a good day for Sinn Féin.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin are vying for top spot in the election, which comes with the entitlement to nominate the next first minister.

While the office of the first and deputy first minister is an equal one with joint power, the allocation of the titles is regarded as symbolically important.

Michelle Gildernew, who is the party's MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, believes this is down to Sinn Féin's "positive election campaign".

"It was very heartening to be on the doors," she says.

"I heard from people right across the political spectrum, including from traditional unionist parties, that they're ready for change.

"People want us back in there (Stormont) on Monday morning ready to form an executive".

Former deputy leader of the UUP Danny Kennedy says this election will be a "mixed bag" for his party, but says "it's too early to be either a prophet of doom or a proclaimer of great things".

He says a potential surge in the TUV vote could impact other unionist parties.

"We'll see if it translates into seats," he says.

"Certainly the fifth seat in most constituencies, if not all, is going to be a pretty tight race."

Our correspondent Gareth Gordon says a number of "big beasts of unionism" could be in trouble, including the current and former Ulster Unionist leaders, Doug Beattie and Mike Nesbitt.

Mr Nesbitt told the BBC he thinks he is in trouble.

He says that on the first box he tallied personally, he got no first preference votes.

“I can’t tell you how disheartening that is," says Mr Nesbitt, who is trying to retain his seat in Strangford.

"It's a schoolboy error to extrapolate that out because there are boxes where apparently I've done pretty well.

"If I'm in a dogfight for the fifth and sixth seat, I will take it because after today you are either out and it doesn't really matter if you are first, second, third, fourth or fifth."

Where the current leader Mr Beattie is concerned, while Gareth is not at the Upper Bann count, he says “there are people who believe Doug Beattie is in trouble”.

“What would that mean for his party? Could the Ulster Unionists possibly have an election where they lose not only their current leader but former leader? That would be quite incredible.”

Back in Strangford, the former DUP Education Minister Peter Weir is also believed to be in trouble.

It’s the only constituency where the DUP hold three seats and the feeling is they will come back with only two – Michelle McIlveen and Harry Harvey.

Image source, Getty

How many WhatsApp groups does the SDLP have?

Sixteen, according to SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, "and I try not to look at too many of them".

"I have a few people that I speak to on the phone and I think that's the smartest thing, because the one thing about election counts is, particularly here, we've learnt nothing yet," he tells BBC News NI.

"We'll have a first count soon - we'll see what that means.

"This election count will be decided in the dying hours, we've always known that."

Asked about his election predictions, Mr Eastwood says "the Alliance surge is absolutely there".

"On the nationalist side, it's been pretty clear to me in the last few days of this campaign that the first minister issue has landed with voters.

"We think that in some areas, SDLP voters have lent their votes to Sinn Féin.

"What that means in the end I don't know but it has put us under pressure in places where we probably shouldn't be under pressure.

"I think there's a tide there and people wanted to send a message, they wanted to kick the DUP and I think this is how they decided to do it."

Earlier, the party's MP for Belfast South Claire Hanna said it was "not going to be a good day".