What happened in the US election overnight and who is winning

Donald Trump appeared to see an early surge in the US election as polls closed across the country on Tuesday night.

The Republican candidate inched ahead in the early hours of the night after holding on to red states including Florida, Texas and Alabama. He outnumbered rival Kamala Harris who did pick up Democrat strongholds including New York and Illinois.

Earlier in the night there had been no major surprises until Trump was projected as winner of swing state North Carolina shortly before 5am, UK time. An hour later he was projected to win Georgia.

As of 6am the remaining battleground states of Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin and Michigan had yet to be declared.

READ MORE: US election 2024 LIVE updates as America decides between Trump and Harris

It is these states that will decide the election.

Under the US voting system, a total of 270 votes in the college are needed to win the presidency. As it stood as of 6am Trump had a projected 243 votes in the electoral college, and Ms Harris 182, according to the BBC projections.

Here is everything that happened overnight in the US election while you were in bed.

Earlier in the evening a series of bomb threats were made against a number of US election polling places in battleground states.

They appeared to have originated from Russian email domains and have been found to be a hoax, according to the FBI.

The bomb threats in parts of Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania forced evacuations and some polling places to extend hours. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro confirmed there had been multiple bomb threats but said there had been "no credible threat" to the public.

The first polling stations closed in Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont, West Virginia and the key