The new leader of the Liberal Democrat party is set to be crowned following a five-week contest to succeed Charles Kennedy.
As voting closed today, bookmakers made acting leader Sir Menzies Campbell their favourite, slightly ahead of Westminster newcomer Chris Huhne, with party president Simon Hughes trailing some way behind.
But it was far from clear whether the betting accurately reflected the state of opinion among the 73,000 Liberal Democrat members entitled to vote.
Ballot papers were being counted at the north London offices of the independent Electoral Reform Services, before the announcement of the new leader.
Under the alternative vote system used for the poll, second-preference choices will prove vital if no candidate manages to secure an overall majority in the first round.
After months of bad headlines for the Lib Dems, party bigwigs hope the conference will deliver a show of unity behind the new leader.
The contest kicked off on January 7th when Mr Kennedy resigned after admitting problems with alcohol. The last few weeks of his six-year stint in the top job had been bedevilled by reports that senior MPs were unhappy with his performance.
Veteran foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies was installed as acting leader and declared his candidacy for the permanent job, but then Mark Oaten, then Mr Hughes and Mr Huhne joined the leadership race.
Mr Oaten swiftly withdrew for lack of support among MPs, and then quit as home affairs spokesman amid allegations about liaisons with a rent-boy. Early favourite Mr Hughes' prospects then took a blow when he was forced to reveal his bisexuality just days after publicly denying being homosexual.