Democrat Joe Biden has solidified his victory over US President Donald Trump in the election with a win in traditionally Republican-leaning Georgia, putting him at 306 electoral votes, networks have projected.
CNN, ABC and other networks called the race in the southern state in favour of Mr Biden, marking the first time a Democrat has won there since Bill Clinton in 1992.
Mr Trump, meanwhile, claimed victory in North Carolina, US networks projected. That put his final projected electoral vote tally at 232.
The Electoral College, made up of 538 electors, formally decides the US presidency, following the 3 November election.
Mr Biden captured 25 states, including his home state Delaware and big prizes California and New York, as well as the US capital.
The former vice president flipped five states won by Mr Trump in 2016 - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
US media outlets projected wins for the Republican incumbent in 25 states, including big prizes Florida and Texas, as well as Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Ohio, all states he won in 2016.
Nebraska split its electoral votes between the two candidates, four for Mr Trump and one for Mr Biden.
Maine was won by Mr Biden, but he seized only three of the four electoral votes on offer, with the last allocated to Mr Trump.
Mr Trump has claimed without evidence that he was cheated by widespread election fraud and has refused to concede. State election officials report no serious irregularities, and several of his legal challenges have failed in court.
To win a second term, Mr Trump would need to overturn Mr Biden's lead in at least three states, but he has so far failed to produce evidence that he could do so in any of them.
States face a 8 December "safe harbour" deadline to certify their elections and choose electors for the Electoral College, which will officially select the new president on 14 December.
In Michigan, where Mr Biden won by 2.6 percentage points or more than 148,000 votes, two Republican state senators have asked the state's top election officials to audit the results before certifying them.
They cited a "glitch" in vote-counting software, allegations that ballots were mishandled and impediments to poll-watchers.
"These claims deserve our full attention and diligent investigation to ensure fairness and transparency in our election process," Lana Theis and Tom Barrett said in a letter to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
The state has said that the canvassing process, which is a county-by-county review of the vote count, is in itself an audit.
Mr Biden's legal advisers have dismissed the Mr Trump lawsuits as political theatre.
Federal election security officials have found no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, "or was in any way compromised," two security groups said in a statement released yesterday by the lead US cybersecurity agency.
While Republicans in the United States have questioned the outcome, US allies around the world have recognised Mr Biden's victory since Saturday.
China yesterday became the latest country to congratulate Mr Biden, leaving Russia and Mexico as conspicuous holdouts.
Mr Biden was set to meet transition advisers again today at his Delaware beach house as he maps out his approach to the coronavirus pandemic and prepares to name his top appointees, including cabinet members.
Mr Trump's refusal to accept defeat has stalled the official transition.
The federal agency that releases funding to an incoming president-elect, the General Services Administration, has not yet recognised Mr Biden's victory, denying him access to federal office space and resources.
Mr Biden's pick for White House chief of staff, Ron Klain, told MSNBC yesterday that starting the transition is particularly crucial now, as the Biden administration will inherit a coronavirus vaccination campaign as soon as he takes office.
Regardless of the impediments, Mr Biden will sign a "stack" of executive orders and send high-priority legislation to Congress on his first day in office, Mr Klain said.
"He is going to have a very, very busy Day One," Mr Klain said, citing a return to the Paris Accord on climate change, immigration reform, strengthening the "Obamacare" healthcare law and environmental protection as issues Mr Biden would address on 20 January.
Most Republicans have publicly said Mr Trump has a right to pursue court challenges and declined to recognise Mr Biden as the winner. But more signs of dissent began emerging yesterday.
Party figures such as Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and Karl Rove, a top adviser to former President George W Bush, said Mr Biden should be treated as the president-elect.
Mr Trump has other motivations for prolonging his fight. His campaign is working on retiring its debt and contributions to his legal fund can also be used for that purpose.
He also may be positioning himself to retain his grip on the Republican Party, and his tens of millions of supporters, to benefit any future political endeavours, including another run for president in 2024.
