Nick Eardley
BBC Scotland Westminster correspondent

I'll be following the counts and declarations for Edinburgh Council where coalition politics has dominated for the last few years.

This is a city where the SNP, Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats all have seats they think they could win at the general election on 8 June (the nationalists won all bar one seat here in 2015 and have an eye on the one they didn't take).   

All four parties will be looking at the results today to analyse their support and see whether the hopes they have at the moment are reflected in the ballots.

Ahead of this election, the council was governed by a Labour-SNP coalition - one of the few in the country. 

The SNP are hoping they'll be the largest party at the end of counting. Labour will be hoping to stem the losses they've seen in other elections in Scotland.

The Conservatives hold 11 seats and today's result will be an indication of whether, as many have suggested, there has been a bounce for the party north of the border. 

At Holyrood, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson took the party from fourth to win the Edinburgh central constituency. Was that personal appeal or a sign that the party's message is being well received in the capital? Some think it's possible the Tories could be the second biggest party.

The Lib Dems were the biggest party on the council between 2007 and 2012. But they were decimated in 2012 - losing 14 of their 17 seats. The party is confident they'll increase their tally today.

The Greens have six seats - it'll be interesting to see whether they benefit from an independence bounce - will SNP voters give the Greens their second or third preferences (and vice versa)? It's possible they'll be in a position to play a role in coalition negotiations in the coming days.

Western Isles' local authority, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, has tweeted this photograph of ballot boxes arriving by boat from the southern isles for the islands' count in Stornoway on Lewis.

Image source, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

Meanwhile, the Scottish Greens are fielding 219 candidates while there will be 499 independent candidates and 148 from other parties.

In the last election in 2012, the SNP secured 503,233 first preference votes and returned 425 councillors, with Labour winning 488,703 first preference votes and seeing 394 of its candidates elected.

Highland Council has tweeted this picture of the stage at Inverness Leisure Centre where declarations will be made following the counting of votes in the same venue.

Image source, Highland Council

Huw Williams

Staff at Kirkwall town hall began counting votes at 08:07 for the Kirkwall West ward.

Returning officer Alistair Buchan told candidates he had nothing but respect for anyone who puts themselves forward for public office.

Without any bias, he said, he wished them all "good luck". 

For the first time since the introduction of the Single Transferable Voting system, there are three wards where the number of candidates nominated do not exceed the number of seats.

This means there is no election needed.

Image source, Reuters

Two of the wards are in the Northern Isles - one on Orkney, one on Shetland - where between them five Independent and one SNP candidate have been elected.

The other is the relatively remote South Kintyre ward in Argyll & Bute where one Conservative, one Liberal Democrat, and one SNP candidate have found themselves elected without a contest.

Just another 1,218 council seats to be contested.

Here you can follow BBC Scotland's comprehensive results coverage of the Scottish local elections.