UK party leaders criss-crossed the country making a final push for votes in the last day of campaigning before tomorrow’s parliamentary election.
One poll indicated that Labour, in power since 1997 but battered by recession and public anger over a scandal over MPs' expenses that has tainted all the main parties, could still win the greatest number of seats in parliament.
Conservative leader David Cameron campaigned through the night and Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an early visit this morning to market workers in northern England to court the one third of voters said still to be undecided.
A YouGov poll for the Sun suggested the Conservatives' support was unchanged on 35 per cent, while centre-left Labour rose to 30 per cent. The Liberal Democrats, who had enjoyed a strong rise in recent weeks, fell four points to 24 per cent.
The quirks of the "first past the post" electoral system, in which each MP is elected purely by gaining the most votes in one local constituency, mean these figures could allow Labour to remain the biggest party, but short of a majority in parliament.
A ComRes poll for the Independent put support for the parties unchanged, with the Conservatives eight points ahead of Labour, making David Cameron's party the largest in a 650-seat parliament, but denying him outright control.
Both polls suggest a hung parliament, in which the Liberal Democrats could hold the balance of power. Britain has not had an inconclusive election result of this kind since 1974 and is unused to the kind of coalition-building familiar to many European countries.
A Reuters poll found market strategists had scaled back their outlook for the pound against the dollar due to the likelihood of a "hung parliament," with economists seeing a one-in-five chance Britain could suffer a credit rating downgrade some time after the election.
Two senior Liberal Democrats said today they would work constructively with whoever voters decided should lead the country but reiterated their view that they could not support a party that won the most seats despite coming third in votes.
However, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg dismissed suggestion he could be kingmaker come Friday. "There are 45 million people in this country who are entitled to vote, 45 million kingmakers, I'm not the kingmaker, not David Cameron, not Gordon Brown," he told supporters.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is expected to win at least nine seats, is willing to enter a formal coalition with the Conservatives if they fail to win an overall majority, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The paper said the DUP would require Mr Cameron to protect Northern Ireland from this year's public spending cuts. Conservative schools spokesman Michael Gove denied any deal had been done, saying the party was campaigning for an outright win.
Markets fear political deadlock could complicate efforts to cut a record deficit running at more than 11 per cent of GDP.
European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said today that whoever forms the government must first agree a convincing fiscal consolidation plan.
Two newspapers said a hung parliament would make it harder to solve Britain's economic woes, backing the Conservatives for their commitment to cut the deficit faster than Labour would.
The Daily Express said Mr Cameron's party needed a clear mandate to "get Britain going in the right direction again," while the Daily Mail backed the Conservatives' commitment to cut public spending rapidly, saying Britain needed a decisive government to avoid a Greek-style crisis.
British TV personality and music producer Simon Cowell also backed the Conservatives. Writing in the Sun, he said tackling the national debt as soon as possible was vital and delaying the pain for future generations would be "suicidal."
The Independent came out in favour of the Liberal Democrats, supporting their stance on electoral reform. It said that in Conservative/Labour swing seats people should consider voting Labour to keep the Conservatives out.