General election 2015: What time do the polls close?

When the polls close in the UK general election 2015

Ballot papers being counted (Getty Images) (Getty Images)

The polls in the UK general election 2015 close at 10pm or 22.00, having opened at 7am.

Read The Independent’s Election 2015 live blog

To avoid a repeat of chaos at some polling stations during the 2010 election, anyone in a queue at a polling station at 10pm when polls closed will also be issued with a ballot paper and allowed to vote.

After polls close, a handful of results are expected to declare before 1am and only a dozen before 2am.

After 3am the results start coming thick and fast and it should soon be clearer to academics who has the upper hand.

With the election so close, however, every seat will count – especially if we end up with a hung parliament.

The last projected result is from St Ives, which isn’t expected to declare until 1pm on Friday. Rural constituencies all take longer to count. By then we should know exactly how the seats have fallen.

After we know who has won the seats, it could be a matter of hours, days, or weeks before party leaders thrash out some kind of deal to form a government.