NI election night: How it unfolded

10 pm: Counting of ballot papers in Northern Ireland begins in tandem with counting in Britain

10 pm:Counting of ballot papers in Northern Ireland begins in tandem with counting in Britain. During previous elections counting started the morning after the elections because of the paramilitary threat.

12 am:As counting continues in the Templemore sports complex in Derry the British army carries out a controlled explosion on a hijacked car which was abandoned outside.

12.45 am:Jeffrey Donaldson is declared the clear winner in the Lagan Valley constituency to a raucous chorus from his DUP supporters.

12.45 am:Supporters of Ian Paisley jnr, among them the Rev Ian Paisley, burst into song at the Ballymena count centre as the DUP candidate is elected for North Antrim, replacing his father who held the seat in the rural constituency since 1970.

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12.50 am: Alliance deputy leader Naomi Long causes the sensation of the Westminster election in Northern Ireland by taking East Belfast from First Minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson. She is the first Alliance MP.

1 am:Peter Robinson congratulates Naomi Long for a successful campaign in East Belfast. But he won't be stepping aside. "I have a job to do and I have a job to complete and I will continue to carry out that important work," he said.

1. 10 am:General election newcomer and Freddie Mercury impersonator Harry Hamilton, of the UCUNF, fails to take victory in Upper Bann from the DUP's David Simpson. Hamilton comes in a respectable second place.

1.25 am:Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams declared elected again as MP for West Belfast with slight increase in vote share, up from 70.5 per cent to 71.1 per cent.

1.40 am:SDLP's Alasdair McDonnell holds South Belfast seat with majority of 5,926 over DUP.

2.20 am:Former SDLP leader Mark Durkan elected MP for Foyle.

3 am:To the cheers of supporters at the count centre in Ballymena, Martin McGuinness is elected in Mid Ulster with more than 50 per cent of the votes cast. Peter Robinson's defeat, he admits, is "a shock to us all".

3.10 am:- Margaret Ritchie retains Eddie McGrady's South Down seat for the SDLP, and is congratulated warmly by both her own party and the constituency's unionist candidates.

3.30 am:Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy re-elected in Newry and Armagh with resounding 18,857 votes. Independent candidate William Frazer comes 5th with 656 votes.

4.25 am:A dramatic second recount in Fermanagh-South Tyrone gives Sinn Féin's Michelle Gildernew a slender advantage, putting her just two votes ahead of her unionist unity opponent Rodney Connor. The Omagh count centre then closes for a few hours, with exhausted party activists set to return for a third recount getting under way after 11am.

4.50 am:TUV attempts to oust Gregory Campbell of the DUP in East Derry fail as party president William Ross polls fifth in the constituency.

2.58 pm:Michelle Gildernew elected after three recounts, defeating her unionist unity opponent Rodney Connor by just four votes. Mr Connor, who wanted a fourth recount, immediately says he will take legal advice.