Counting is continuing and the numbers are very, very close.
With some 98% of votes counted nationwide, Joe Biden leads the popular vote, with nearly 74 million votes - the highest number of votes ever achieved by any candidate in American history.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has scooped up nearly 70 million votes. Both figures reveal the true triumph of this election - voter turnout.
The electoral college map looks like this: Biden 253; Trump 214.
Early in the race, it appeared that Donald Trump had done better than many expected. The Republican president predominantly urged his supporters to vote in person on the day of the election.
With in-person votes being counted first in most instances, Donald Trump shot ahead in many of the key battleground states, giving an early illusion of success.
However, Joe Biden urged his supporters to vote early by mail-in ballot, and it appears that many of them did.
The later counting of postal votes has resulted in a dramatic comeback for the Democrat.
"There will be no blue states and red states when we win, just the United States of America" @JoeBiden says "every vote must be counted" and that he is confident he will emerge victorious, adding his win will be a victory for democracy | Live Updates: https://t.co/gYGTI83tBI pic.twitter.com/5lmYBa7w4n
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) November 4, 2020
On Wednesday morning, Donald Trump claimed without evidence that the election was a fraud, and announced: "Frankly, we did win this election."
'This is a major fraud on our nation': Donald Trump announces he will go to the Supreme Court, claiming that there has been fraud involved in the ballot. 'Frankly, we did win this election,' he said. | Follow live updates: https://t.co/GyIfFyiqLD pic.twitter.com/ap9oKAshAl
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) November 4, 2020
Calls to "stop the count" and a flurry of legal actions from the Trump camp, across a number of states, followed.
But the truth remains: Joe Biden has pulled ahead in nearly all of the states left to declare, and the numbers now appear to be in his favour to become the next president.
The next few hours will determine if this trajectory will continue.
