A disastrous night for Labour has left the Conservatives on the brink of forming a new government and the SNP celebrating its near total domination of Scottish politics.
Here are the key moments from an unforgettable night of high drama:
10pm: Polls close and the exit poll is predicts the Conservatives be the largest party with 316 seats. This is 10 short of a majority, the same number of seats won by their coalition partners the Liberal Democrats. The SNP is predicted to win 58 of 59 Scottish seats.
10.08pm: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urges “HUGE caution” over the poll.
10.48pm: Houghton and Sunderland South is the first constituency to declare a result. Labour increased their share of the vote to win the seat but the Lib Dems vote was all but wiped out while UKIP’s share rose by 18.8%.
11.15pm: Sunderland Central declares. Another Labour win.
11.29pm: Labour holds its third Sunderland seat with a slight increase in its share of the vote. For the third seat in a row the Lib Dems poll less than five per cent of the vote and lose their deposit.
00.15am: Glasgow South MP Tom Harris all but concedes defeat to the SNP in a TV interview and says the nationalists could win all seven of Glasgow’s seats. He says the election is still “about the referendum”.
1.30am: Alex Salmond arrives at the count for Gordon, looking pleased.
1.38am: Douglas Alexander arrives at the count for Paisley South, looking ashen faced.
1.50am: Tories hold the key Labour target of Nuneaton.
2.13am: The first Scottish result comes in and it’s a disaster for Labour. A 26% swing to the SNP sees the SNP take Kilmarnock and Loudon from Cathy Jamieson.
2.22am: 20-year-old SNP candidate Mhairi Black becomes one of the country’s youngest ever MPs after beating Labour’s Douglas Alexander.
2.26am: Nicola Sturgeon says, in a moment of understatement, that early SNP results have been “outstandingly good”.
2.27am: Chris Law wins Dundee West for the SNP with a majority of 17,000. He overturned a 7,000 Labour majority. The SNP also win Ochil and South Perthshire and Falkirk from Labour minutes later.
2.38am: Peter Grant takes Glenrothes for the SNP
2.42am: Stewart Hosie holds Dundee East for the SNP.
2.51am: The SNP takes Gordon Brown’s former seat, Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, widely regarded as Labour’s safest in Scotland. Roger Mullin won by 10,000 votes.
3.00am: It is reported that a Labour spokesman has conceded David Cameron is likely to be the next Prime Minister. Ed Miliband is reportedly preparing his resignation.
3.14am: Jim Murphy loses East Renfrewshire. He promises a Labour fightback in his speech. The SNP makes two more gains as he is talking.
3.16am: Labour source says Ed Miliband “won’t make it to lunchtime”.
3.40am: As the SNP continues to sweep across Scotland, Dundee-raised Respect MP George Galloway loses his seat in Bradford West to Labour.
3.50am: Liberal Democrat stronghold North East Fife also goes to the SNP.
3.57am: Last man standing? Alastair Carmichael holds onto Orkney and Shetland for the Lib Dems.
4.05am: Another gain from Labour for the SNP in Edinburgh South, Alastair Darling’s former constituency.
4.10am: Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes loses his seat to Labour.
4.11am: The SNP completes a clean sweep of all the Glasgow constituencies, having never won a seat there in a general election before.
4.12am: Alex Salmond wins the Gordon constituency
4.28am: Labour win Edinburgh South, their first Scottish seat of the night.
4.36am: Vince Cable loses his Twickenham seat to the Conservatives.
4.50am: Nick Clegg retains his Sheffield Hallam seat, albeit with a vastly reduced majority.
4.57am: David Mundell retains his Dumfriesshire seat for the Conservatives.
5.02am: Employment minister Esther McVey loses her Wirral West seat.
5.39am: Ed Miliband holds his Doncaster seat but is left ruing a “difficult night” for Labour.
5.46am: David Cameron holds his Witney constituency and reaffirms his commitment to a referendum on EU membership. The Conservatives are now predicted to win 325 seats.