Time to pause for breath after the ANC press conference as we wait for the next big scheduled event, which is the official announcement of the final result at 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT; 17:00 BST).

Right now, with the votes from more than 99% of the voting districts counted and verified, the results for the top five parties look like this:

• ANC - 40%
• DA - 22%
• MK - 15%
• EFF - 10%
• IFP - 4%

The 400 seats in the National Assembly are distributed in direct proportion to each party's share of the vote.

Those 400 MPs then go on to elect a president. In other words, in order to get its leader, Cyril Ramaphosa, a second term, the ANC has to form some sort of coalition.

The party has said it is willing to talk to every party, but it will not accept the resignation of Mr Ramaphosa as a condition.

Farouk Chothia
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, Reuters

If you're a betting person, put your money on South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa remaining in office - despite the catastrophic loss of support his governing ANC suffered in the election.

In his address to the media, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula emphatically stated that Ramaphosa will not step down.

"That is not going to happen," he said.

Mr Mbalula's views are significant - he is one of the most influential leaders, and power-brokers, in the party.

And he promised that the ANC will step up its efforts to renew itself, otherwise "we're gone".

That's an endorsement of Ramaphosa's efforts to tackle corruption in the party - and the government.

He also made it clear that in talks to form a coalition government, the ANC will not yield to demands for Mr Ramaphosa to step down.

That probably rules out a coalition with former President Jacob Zuma's new party, which wants Mr Ramaphosa to be removed from office.

Image source, Reuters

The ANC's secretary-general Fikile Mbalula's has just finished the press conference.

Here are the key points from what he spoke about:

• He admitted that there was nothing to celebrate after the poor poll result
• He urged people to respect the law and resist efforts to undermine the results
• He said the ANC was committed to forming a government that reflects the will of the South African people
• He said the ANC was "talking to everybody" as they try and find coalition partners
• One non-negotiable was made clear - that President Cyril Ramaphosa would stay leader of the ANC
• But he conceded that whether the ANC likes it or not they were in "the era of coalitions"
• The secretary-general said the ANC's low election result made it evident the party needs to "correct" itself
• He admitted power cuts and water shortages were key factors in the ANC's poor result.

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has finished the press conference,.

We'll post a summary soon - but he said the next steps will be a meeting of the ANC's National Executive Committee on Tuesday and there will be another press conference on Wednesday.

"Advanced democracies in Europe" are the usual setting for coalition governments, says ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalulua, as he reflects on what will become South Africa's new power-sharing reality.

"We are in the era of coalitions," he adds, "it started in local government, we are now at national government".

"So we need to study all the models of coalition governments - how they've worked for stability of countries - without compromising the constituencies that we serve," Mbalulu says.

He says other political parties aren't "stooges of the ANC" and are therefore "applying their minds" independently, but - without naming names - he accused some of trouble-making when when they should be focusing on the future.

"Now that the results are out - what is their thinking? Not rabble-rousing."

There was a big sigh and some gasps from reporters at the ANC's press conference just now, as the party's secretary-general accused the media of playing a role in the party's recent poor performance.

"As we got into this election, everyone wanted us down - including the media," Fikile Mbalula said.

Smiling to reporters, he added, "you did your part, but we can't blame you".

Mbalula conceded that the party was also responsible for its worst performance at a general election in 30 years.

"We are not in the blame-game to say that we cannot be blamed. We are stating the facts."

The ANC's secretary-general says his party's low election results was partly due to power cuts - known in South Africa as load-shedding - and problems with the water supply.

Fikile Mbalula said prior to the election his party had done pre-election research that told them their vote share would be below 50%.

"Load-shedding and water were big on the agenda."

Last year President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of disaster to try and deal with a crippling and unprecedented energy crisis.

"We want to achieve stability, constitutionality, the rule of law," says top ANC official Fikile Mbalula, as the party mull who to form a coalition government with.

"How are those 60 million people who voted going to be served? You've got to think deep and hard," he adds.

"We can assure you that, as the ANC, we are applying our minds to that."

"We are guided by ideology but also principles," he's told the press conference at the national results centre.

"The glue that binds us together is South African-ness. South Africa must exist beyond narrow politics."

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC News, election results centre

One thing many were watching for was the tone of the first official comments from the African National Congress following this week's election.

Here in the press conference - the mood from the leadership appears considered and one of a party humbled by its poorest election results.

Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula says these are "bad times" for the ANC and the result "sends a clear message to the ANC".

But as we’ve also been hearing this week the party is holding on to the fact that it’s still the biggest party or the most "popular party in South Africa" as Mbalula says.

He adds this is a mandate to continue the project of renewal and revitalisation which the party began six years ago under President Cyril Ramaphosa after being dogged by corruption scandals.

But if you haemorrhage 15 percentage points of your vote share, as is expected, is the result an indictment that you have failed? The party leadership here insists the process is ongoing and it is listening to voters.

Image source, EPA

"The ANC is going to conduct a deep analysis about the outcome of the election," the ANC's secretary-general, FIkile Mbalula says.

"It's directing us towards shared power with others, and that's what we are processing right now.

"We need to make sense of what happened and we will share with you our perspective."

The ANC's secretary says his party's election results shows that they need to "correct themselves" after losing their parliamentary majority for the first time.

Fikile Mbalula says the ANC needs to work on the things they were "warned about by society".

This could be a reference to the anger over corruption, crime and high unemployment in the country.

"It's no longer a pipe dream that the ANC can be cut below 50% - it has happened," he says.

He adds that the ANC's task now was to deal with an "almost sinking ship".

"The results have shown us if we don't strengthen the renewal and many other things we need to do as a party - we will be gone."

The ANC's secretary general says that while the party is up for talks there was one non-negotiable.

"If you come to us with a demand that [President Cyril] Ramaphosa must step down that is not going to happen," Fikile Mbalula says.

This was a reference to a demand by ex-President Jacob Zuma's MK that Ramaphosa should step down as a condition for negotiations.

Despite the historic loss Mbalula says the party is "blown but not out, we are still standing".

"The ANC will come back."

He says the ANC has accepted the will of the people and will be seeking to share power.

The ANC's secretary-general says that "we are talking to everybody" reflecting on the next steps.

"We must engage with political parties who are engaging with us - and political parties are engaging with us," Fikile Mbalula says. "Talks about talks is where we are."

In the party's first official comments since the general election the ANC's secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says there is nothing to celebrate in terms of the performance of the party.

With almost all the results in, the ANC has a 40% share of the vote - the first time in 30 years that the party lost its absolute majority.

The ANC is committed to forming a government that reflects the will of the people, the party's secretary general has said in the first official comments after the election.

He adds that the party will have discussions internally first to map out the next steps.

But he says the party will act in the interests of the people.

And Fikile Mbalula urges people to respect the law. He calls on all South Africans to resist the efforts of those who want to undermine the electoral process - which seems to be a comment on ex-President Jacob Zuma.

We have heard the people's concerns, the ANC's Secretary General Fikile Mbalula says after its poor showing at the polls.

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC News, election results centre

The auditorium that hosted the press conference of former President Jacob Zuma last night as well as a statement by EFF leader Julius Malema in the afternoon is being prepared for the ANC leadership to have its turn to address journalists and the wider country.

I overheard one ANC official here already saying "we always take beatings but we overcome and rise like a phoenix".

But losing more than 15 percentage points of its vote share as expected is a bitter blow for the party and one it appears it did not see coming.

Farouk Chothia
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, Reuters

The party of South Africa's former President Jacob Zuma is trying to throw a spanner in the works by demanding a re-run of last week's watershed election.

The electoral commission is unlikely to agree to this demand, and it is pressing ahead with announcing the final result later today.

The demand of Mr Zuma's MK party comes as a surprise. It was the biggest winner of the election, capturing third spot in he national election.

But it failed to win an outright majority in Mr Zuma's home province of KwaZulu-Natal.

This is a huge blow to the party, as it will be forced to find a coalition partner if it wants to govern the province.

This limits Mr Zuma's option of using KwaZulu-Natal as a base to fight South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, and to force his resignation.

That is Mr Zuma's key objective. Mr Ramaphosa ousted him as president in 2019, and he now wants to take revenge.

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC News, election results centre

The National Results Operation Centre - or the Roc as many call it here in South Africa - is not as busy as usual.

The Independent Electoral Commission has asked for space to get the hall ready for its big announcement this evening to declare the results of these elections.

But there’s one more event coming up.

The governing African National Congress is holding a press conference here this morning.

It will be its first official public statement reacting to what has been a dismal showing at the polls for the party.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the aftermath of Wednesday's general election in South Africa.

The electoral commission is expected to announce the final result by the end of the day, but it is already clear that the ANC - in power for three decades - has lost its absolute majority and will have to find coalition partners to govern.

With nearly all the votes counted and verified, the ANC has a 40% share, the DA 22%, the MK 15% and the EFF 10%. There is no doubt that this outcome is a huge blow to the party that led the struggle against white-minority rule.

Expect a lot of talk today about how those talks will shape up.