Who will win the race to return the first election result?

While their first declaration times at the last two general elections have come in at 23:01 and 23:27, both within 90 minutes of polls closing, Newcastle City Council is briefing that it does not expect to declare the winner of the Newcastle Central and West seat until about 01:15 BST on 5 July.

Local authority officials on Tyneside are being cautious this time around, with a number of changes having come into play since the last general election in 2019.

That includes a major redrawing of the parliamentary constituency boundaries, which means that Newcastle will be reliant on some ballot boxes being sent in from wards in neighbouring North Tyneside for two of its three seats.

The sight of students sprinting hurriedly across the sports hall at Northumbria University’s Sport Central with ballot boxes has also become a rarer feature over recent local council elections, a change that was enforced at the first Covid-era count in May 2021 when there were strict hygiene measures in place.

There is also still uncertainty on some key factors that are key to having a well-oiled ballot counting machine, including how many staff the council will have on the night.