With the UK going to the polls seven weeks after Theresa May announced plans for a snap election to secure a mandate for her Brexit plans, here's a guide to how the process works.
Election basics
Polls opened at 7am and closed at 10pm, though anyone who was in the queue to vote when the polls closed may do so. Voting is not compulsory.
Britain is a parliamentary democracy, meaning that the government is chosen by elected politicians rather than being separately elected.
The defining principle for any prospective government is that it has the support of a majority of politicians in the elected lower chamber of parliament, the House of Commons.
The national election is thus the election for the House of Commons. Voters are asked to elect a member of parliament for their local constituency, with constituencies having an average of about 72,000 voters.
Unlike Ireland's system of proportional representation, Britain's first-past-the-post electoral system means a winner-takes-all situation.
For the election to produce a majority government, the biggest party theoretically must win at least 326 seats of the 650 regional constituencies. But in practice, the threshold for a majority is around 323, because Sinn Féin does not take up any seats it wins.
A party which wins a majority will seek to implement policy proposals which it set out during the campaign. By convention, the unelected upper house, called the House of Lords, will not block or hinder policies that were pledged during the campaign.
If the government has a small majority or needs to enter coalition, its ability to run the country will be typically tested by a vote on the queen's speech - a speech at the start of a parliament setting out a legislative agenda which has been prepared by the prospective government and is read out by Queen Elizabeth.
The electorate
Turnout at national elections in Britain has fallen since the 1950s, when it used to be over 80%.
The number of registered voters in the 2015 general election was 46.4 million. Turnout was 66.4%, the highest turnout since 1997.
Turnout was higher at the 2016 referendum on EU membership, with 72.2% of an electorate of 46,500,001 voting.
The deadline to register to vote was 22 May. On one day alone, the electoral commission received 622,000 applications.
The greatest spike in applications to register was among young people, with nearly 250,000 applications from under 25s on the day of the deadline. In 2015, turnout among those aged 18-24 was just 43%.
The opposition Labour Party polls better with younger voters, while Theresa May's Conservatives are more popular with older generations.
In all, more than one million people under 25 have registered to voted since the election was announced in April, compared to around 700,000 in the same time period ahead of the 2015 election. Fewer over 55s have registered this time around compared to two years ago.
However, the Electoral Commission said that approximately 30% of under 34s had not been registered compared to 4% of over 55s.
Estimates from 2015 suggest that approximately 85% of the eligible population are registered to vote.
Who is in charge now?
Britain’s parliament was officially dissolved on 2 May and all 650 seats declared vacant.
British Prime Minister Theresa May and her team of ministers remain in charge of their departments and retain their ministerial decision-making power.
But, by convention, the government refrains from taking major policy decisions, entering new long-term commitments or making high-profile appointments.
If a national emergency forces the government to act quickly, it may consult with the opposition informally to discuss the best course of action. When a new parliament is formed, it may be required to endorse actions taken during the interim period.
What's the likely outcome?
The Conservatives currently hold a working majority of 17, and Mrs May called the early election in the hope of increasing it. Polls indicate she will win, though it is unclear by how much.
There is a large discrepancy between the pollsters, even as the consensus is that Mrs May wins while Labour has closed the gap on the Conservatives.
Polling firms widely predicted there would be no overall majority in 2015, with Labour possibly the largest party. The Conservative victory - and majority - came as a shock to pollsters and has prompted soul-searching.
"From the pollsters' point of view this is an experimental election," YouGov's Anthony Wells said in a blog post. "We all got it wrong in 2015 and we are all trying different methods to get it right this year."
Wells said that polls in 2015 over-estimated how likely young voters were to vote, and the difference between the pollsters this time around stems from the varied approaches to the problem that the firms are taking this time around
The role of the queen
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has the power to dismiss a prime minister or to make a personal choice of successor, but a monarch has not exercised this right since 1834, and the tradition is considered archaic.
By long-standing convention the queen does not get involved in party politics, and the formation of the next government is left to the parties to resolve amongst themselves.
