Black smoke billowed from the Vatican's Sistine Chapel this evening, signalling that Roman Catholic cardinals had failed in their first vote to elect a pope to succeed John Paul II.
The dark smoke, seen by thousands in St. Peter's Square, showed that no candidate had reached the required two-thirds majority as the cardinals met in a secret conclave to choose the Church's 265th pontiff.
But there were moments of confusion in the packed square when the first, faint puffs of smoke came out grey, prompting at least one Italian news organisation to report briefly that cardinals had elected a new pope.
Convinced the first whiffs of smoke were white, some of the thousands of people in the cobblestone square near the Renaissance Sistine Chapel started to cheer and applaud in the belief that a new pontiff had been chosen on the first ballot.
One man shouted, "It's got to be Cardinal Ratzinger" - referring to Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, the dean of cardinals and a frontrunner to succeed John Paul II. Camera flash-bulbs lit up across the square.
But moments later, thick black smoke began to billow - the traditional signal from inside the frescoed chapel that the vote had ended inconclusively. "What a disappointment," said Domenica Tamponi, a Rome resident who had set up chairs in the square to watch the spectacle with her daughter.
"It was so hard to see against the dark sky," said Father Artur Savita from Huambo, Angola. "In the first moments it seemed white and I thought, we have a pope. But it seems we'll have to wait."
The 115 cardinals eligible to elect a new pontiff started the conclave this afternoon, and the black smoke followed the first vote.
To be elected, a candidate needs a two-thirds majority, or at least 77 votes. When the cardinals agree on a pontiff, white smoke will rise from the makeshift chimney on the Sistine Chapel and the bells of St. Peter's Basilica will ring.
Pope John Paul II died on April 2 after reigning for 26 years - the third longest papacy in Church history.