As the results started coming in after the end of a bitterly contested US presidential election, the two candidates staked claims to victory with Democratic nominee Joe Biden declaring "we're gonna win this", and President Donald Trump accusing Democrats of "trying to steal the election".

After Biden made the claim at a rally of his supporters in Delware shortly before 1 am on Wednesday, Trump asserted that he will have a "big win". He followed up with another tweet making the accusation and said: "We are up big, but they are trying to steal the election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed."

Biden told his supporters at a drive-in gathering: "I'm here to tell you tonight we believe we're on track to win this election. I'm optimistic about this outcome."

But he added that "it ain't over until every vote is counted, until every ballot is counted". Twitter labelled Trump's statement as "some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process".

Trump won the crucial state of Florida but appears to have lost Arizona, which would narrow his path to victory.

Shortly before 1.30 am, the NBC News network showed Trump leading with 213 electoral votes to Biden's 210. For a win, 270 electoral votes is needed. Many important states like Pennsylvania are yet to declare their results and it was too soon to call the election for either of the candidates.