How the night unfolded | Analysis of the result | How the Democrats did it | In full: the US Elections | Pictures: America decides

Video: Bronwen Maddox: what he has to do next | Gerard Baker: key states | Obama votes | Palin votes | Last ditch speeches | Chicago prepares | Best election jokes

Barack Obama will become America's first black president after emerging triumphant from one of the most extraordinary elections in modern times.

There were tumultuous scenes at his victory party with 70,000 people at Grant Park in Chicago - and hundreds of thousands more outside - as TV networks simultaneously declared him the winner at exactly 11pm Eastern Time to bring an emphatic end to the Bush years.

Projected wins in the traditional battlegrounds of Ohio and Florida - as well as Pennsylvania, on which John McCain's pencil-thin path to the White House had depended - were easily enough to give Mr Obama the Electoral College votes he needed.

A clutch of other once-Republican states, including Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana and Nevada, are said to be too close to call, but Mr McCain - after an often tempestuous campaign - delivered a gracious concession speech in his home state of Arizona.

The immense turnout in yesterday's election was testament to the energy, excitement and expectations of a rejuvenated American democracy, as well as the fears of a nation standing at a crossroads of history. The new president faces economic and social convulsions at home, conflict abroad.

Exit polls showed Mr Obama performing strongly among voters who regarded the economy as the most important issue, cutting a swath through traditional battleground states in the east, while making deep incursions into once-solid Republican territory in the Mountain West and the South.

And, 40 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King and the start of cultural wars that have scarred American politics ever since, Mr Obama has held out the promise of healing divisions.

Mr McCain said: "This is a special election. I recognise the great significance it must have for African Americans and the special pride they must be feeling tonight."

In his concession speech he paid tribute to Mr Obama for inspiring millions and declared the country had "come a long way from the cruel bigotry" of the past.

"There is no greater evidence of this than the election of an African American to the presidency of the United States," he said. "Let there be no reason now for any American not to cherish their citizenship of this, the greatest nation on earth."

Several times he quietened boos from the crowd in Phoenix, saying the nation needed to "come together". Mr McCain promised to help Mr Obama in any way he can "lead us through the challenges we face" and told supporters that though his campaign had fallen short, "the failure is mine, not yours".

In the fight for Congress, Republicans suffered huge losses, but were clinging to hopes that they might just stop Democrats from reaching a filibuster-proof 60-seat "super majority" in the US Senate.

Democrats, needing nine seats to reach the 60-seat threshold, were on target to gain at least seven, but narrowly failed to pick off Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the upper chamber.

In the House of Representatives, Democrats were on course to gain at least another 25 seats, giving them their biggest majority in the lower chamber for a generation.

Hillary Clinton, who saw her own bid to become America's first woman president narrowly fail in an historically-charged Democratic primary, released a statement saying: "This was a long and hard fought campaign but the result was well worth the wait.

"Together, under the leadership of President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and a Democratic Congress, we will chart a better course to build a new economy and rebuild our leadership in the world.:"

Times Recommends

• It’s only Brits who don’t appreciate me, says Blair
• Party’s over for Greek graspers
• White House tightens security for Xmas marathon