The only thing left for the candidates to do was cast their votes, pose for photographers and, in Ken Livingstone's case, engage in a bit of campaign assassination.
It has been a feature of the London mayoral election campaign that the more charismatic candidates in the race have been given a snappy nickname on an almost daily basis. So it was that "The Purple Pimpernel" (Ken's latest and possibly silliest moniker, inspired by his purple battle bus) marched up to the Mora Primary and Nursery School in Cricklewood, north-west London, to cast his vote.
Stabbing his fists in the air like a prizefighter in the ring, Ken complained about having endured a "vile" campaign. It seemed that everyone else had been negative except him. "It has been a negative campaign and I don't think Londoners will want another like this," he said. "I think it is going to be a lot closer than the polls have indicated because we have not got a party machine. . . I would be very surprised if it was not quite close."
His caution would have been confirmed if he had been standing outside a polling station in Hackney, north-east London, earlier in the day. At 9.30 a.m. the only person there, apart from the returning officer and his staff, was a stalwart from the London Socialist Alliance, who was trying to get someone, anyone, to take one of his leaflets.
Just as we were talking about the predictions of a low turnout (perhaps around 33 per cent), Sara, a full-time housewife and mother, turned up and said she "most definitely" wouldn't be voting for Ken.
A bit later, an elderly couple said they had both voted for the Conservative candidate, Steven Norris. Finally Steve, a child psychologist, said he was voting for Ken because "I just couldn't vote for Frank Dobson".
At another polling station at St Bride's Institute, near Blackfriars in central London, there was also a mixed message. Patricia, a manager from Boots, said she would be voting later in the day. Would she be voting for Ken Livingstone? "Oh, certainly not," she declared. "He's got such an ego and he's got far too much to say about everything. I'm fed up hearing about him."
Charles, who works in publishing, announced that the Labour candidate, Frank Dobson, was "a `sensible man" and he would be voting for him, with the Green Party's Darren Johnson as his second preference.
Tariq, a law student, was on his way to buy a late lunch and said he had voted earlier in the day: "I voted for the Greens because I think they've got the best things to say about the environment."
Meanwhile, John and Richard, two London taxi-drivers parked outside the polling station, said they had both declared for Mr Livingstone. "Labour just wants to control everything, and I think he'll stand up for London," Richard said.
"Ken's the man," announced John. "No way would I have voted for Norris or Dobson. They're both as bad as each other."
The candidates were also out casting their votes. Frank Dobson's decidedly lacklustre campaign got a last-minute boost from an environmental campaigner in Holborn, central London, who turned up at the polling station where "Papa Smurf" was casting his vote.
"He's got a nice hairy beard," the campaigner said, "and he's furry like me. That's why I am supporting him."
Steven Norris, whose rather odd campaign slogan was `Action Not Politics', voted in Clapham accompanied by his wife, Emma, who recently graced the pages of Country Life magazine as its "girl in pearls". Norris, who is widely tipped to come in second behind Livingstone, has enjoyed the campaign and was in buoyant mood.
"Clearly the bubble has burst on Ken's campaign," he said. "Londoners today are voting for action over politics. They want a safer, cleaner, fairer London."
Both the Liberal Democrat candidate, Susan Kramer, and the Green Party's Darren Johnson kept a lower profile while voting in their local constituencies. Johnson could yet end up as deputy to Livingstone or as chair of the key environment committee in the new Greater London assembly.
In the afternoon, the news from Downing Street was that the Prime Minister had flown to Northern Ireland to join the peace talks at Hillsborough Castle in Co Down. The London Times wryly observed that while Mr Blair was in Northern Ireland, he would be as far away from London "as he can decently be" when Mr Livingstone was declared London's first directly-elected mayor.
Indeed, for Mr Blair the only crumb of comfort from the London election looks likely to be a Labour majority in the Greater London assembly. But if it is to be Mayor Livingstone, then Downing Street may well be in for a bumpy ride.