Brett Kavanaugh just arrived on Capitol Hill, according to Fox News' congressional reporter Chad Pergram.

The Supreme Court nominee will testify to the Senate after Ford.

"I have found your testimony powerful and credible and I believe you," begins Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat.

"You're a teacher.... Well, you've given America an amazing teaching moment."

"You have inspired and given to courage to women to come forward," he adds.

"You have inspired and you have enlightened men."

"And that is a profound public service regardless of what happens with this nomination," he adds.

"Between the letter date of July 30 and August 7, while you were still in Delaware, did you speak with any other person about your allegations?" the prosecutor asks.

"I was interviewing lawyers but I was not speaking personally about it."

"Did you speak to anyone else about it during that period of time?"

"No, I was staying with my parents at the time."

Ford says she "definitely" did not talk about it with her parents.

"What made you change your mind [about lawyers]?"

"Persons advised me to get a lawyer to get advice about whether to push forward or stay back."

"Did that include Congresswoman Eshoo or Senator Feinstein?"

"No."

"It wasn't clear to me that that was the case," Ford says, when asked why she didn't take the committee up on an offer to testify in California, where she lives.

The prosecutor has been asking questions about Ford's reported fear of flying, and how she managed to travel to Washington for the hearing by plane.

Grassley had insisted the committee could have come to her, but Ford points out she did not realise that was the offer.

We asked women protesting outside the court - from both sides - to give their views on the drama inside.

Democratic Chris Coons asks Ford for her "reaction to the excuse 'boys will be boys'".

"I can only speak to how it has impacted me greatly," she begins, "for the last 36 years, even though I was 15 at the time."

"And I think, you know the younger you are when these things happen it can possibly have worse impact than when you're brain is fully developed and you have coping skills that you developed."

Ford is a psychology professor in California, with experience talking about memory and trauma.

She adds that she was feeling a "fight or flight" mode at the time, and felt a rush of adrenaline as she got away from Kavanaugh.

Americans are calling into television networks to share their own stories of rape or sexual assault.

Across America, people are discussing their own traumatic experiences.

"You said you had a sense of urgency to relay this to the Senate or the president," Mitchell says. "Did you contact them prior to July 6?"

Ford says no, she wasn't aware how to.

"Why did you contact the Washington Post then?"

Ford says she was "panicking" because she knew there wasn't much time. Friends urged her to contact lawmakers or the media.

"I felt like the best option was to try to do the civic route, which is to go to my congressperson who happens to be Anna Eshoo. I called her office and I also put in the anonymous tip to the Washington Post. Unfortunately, neither got back to me before the selection of the nominee."

"I wasn't interested in pursuing the media route, particularly, so I felt like one was enough - the Post - and I was nervous about doing that. My preference was to talk with my congressperson."

The largest anti-sexual violence organisation in the US is using their Twitter feed to instruct people who may be experiencing PTSD on how to tune out today's hearing.

Many have expressed support to Ford during this historic hearing, but others have raised questions over her testimony.

"For so many years people swept cases like yours under the rug," says Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat.

"Well, the times have changed," she says, as she begins her questions.

She adds: "From my experience with memory, I remember distinctly things that happened to me in high school or happened to me in college but I don't remember exactly the date.

"I don't exactly remember the time. I sometimes may not remember the exact place where it occurred. But I remember the interaction."

"I think you remember a lot," she adds.

Image source, AFP

Prosecutor Rachel Mitchell questions why Ford told senators she couldn't come to Washington to testify because she was afraid of flying.

Ford says she had hoped the senators might come to her in California, but realised "that was an unreasonable request".

Mitchell questions how often Ford does travel by airplane.

Ford confirms she flew to Washington to attend today's hearing.

"In fact, you fly fairly frequently for your hobbies and for your work?" Mitchell says.

"Correct, unfortunately," Ford says.

Ford confirms she has also been to Hawaii and French Polynesia by airplane.

"It's easier for me to travel... when it's a vacation," she says.

Mitchell leaves it there.

Committee chairman Grassley says his committee did actually offer to come to California to gather Ford's testimony.

Tarana Burke, the original founder of the #MeToo movement that's inspired women to speak up about their stories of sexual harassment and assault, is in the hearing room today.

Fox News host Chris Wallace said, only hours before the hearing began, that he, like "a lot of American families" had been discussing Kavanaugh's nomination.

He said that during those discussions "two of my daughters told me stories that I had never heard before about things that happened to them in high school".

He acknowledged that their experience is not as serious as those claims made about Kavanaugh, but "the point is that there are teenage girls who don’t tell stories to a lot of people and then it comes up".

"It [the Washington Post] mentions this incident contributed to anxiety and PTSD struggles," the prosecutor asks.

"The word contributed... are there other things that have also contributed?"

Ford replies that conditions like anxiety and PTSD are "multifactorial".

"That was a critical risk factor, that would be a predictor of the symptoms I know have. It doesn't mean that other things that have happened in my life would make it worse or better."

"Have there been other things, then, that have contributed to the anxiety and PTSD you've suffered?"

Ford says she can't rule out "biological predispositions" but that environmentally, she can't think of anything else that would contribute.

"Certainly nothing as striking as that event."

Prosecutor Mitchell asks if the Supreme Court nominee's name was ever included in the notes from Ford's therapist when she shared details of the assault while attending a counselling session with her husband.

"Would it be fair to say Brett Kavanaugh's name is not listed in those [therapy] notes?" Mitchell asks.

Ford replies: "He is not listed in those notes."

She says she discussed her therapy notes with a Washington Post reporter, but otherwise, only her lawyer has seen the notes.