The US presidential election hung in the balance on Wednesday, with a handful of closely contested states set to decide the outcome in the coming hours or days.

President Donald Trump falsely claimed victory and made unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud. The President threatened to go to court and his campaign filed a lawsuit in Michigan to stop the counting.

What we know till Wednesday noon in New York follows:

How close is the election?

Excruciatingly close. Democratic candidate Joe Biden has won 237 electoral college votes, including Wisconsin, and Trump 214 till Wednesday afternoon. The winner needs 270.

By late Wednesday morning, Biden’s prospects brightened. His hopes also spring from the nature of the votes yet to be counted. Many are mail-in ballots, which are expected to favour him.

Which states hold the key?

The seven states of Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina. “Though they’re still too close to call, they’re tilting in Biden’s direction for now,” The New York Times said on Wednesday forenoon.

Biden held a narrow lead of 0.6 per cent in Wisconsin on Wednesday afternoon after the count was completed in the pivotal state, a major boost in his quest. The Trump campaign said it would seek a recount, which is permitted under state law when the margin is below 1 per cent. If the recount confirms the Biden win, it would mean that Wisconsin has flipped from the 2016 result.

Biden has opened narrow leads in Michigan, Nevada and Arizona. Officials in Nevada said they would not update the count until Thursday. If Biden is able to hold these four states, he could win the election even without Pennsylvania.

But Trump still had a path to victory with those states officially undecided. Georgia and North Carolina are still in play; Trump held leads in both. A win for Biden in either one would narrow Trump’s chances considerably.

Trump has run up a daunting lead in Pennsylvania but Biden may still catch up.

What about the popular vote?

Biden on Wednesday was comfortably ahead of Trump, with 2.6 million more votes. But what matters more is the electoral college vote, which is based in part on a state’s population.

Trump won the 2016 election over Democrat Hillary Clinton after winning crucial battleground states even though she drew about 3 million more votes nationwide.

Why the delay?

This time, a huge number of people voted by mail because of the pandemic. With millions of votes yet to be counted across the seven key states, news organisations and other usually impatient actors decided to wait before declaring the victor.

What is the big surprise so far?

That Trump is no pushover. The vote did not produce the overwhelming verdict against Trump that Democrats had wanted.

Opinion polls had given Biden a strong lead nationwide for months, but had shown tighter races in battleground states. Biden’s hopes of a decisive early victory were dashed when Trump won the battlegrounds of Florida, Ohio and Texas.

Trump’s strong performance in Florida, a must-win state for his re-election, was powered by his improved numbers with Latinos. For months, there had been complaints from Democratic Latino activists that Biden was ignoring Hispanic voters and lavishing attention instead on Black voters in big Midwestern cities.

A national exit poll showed that about 11 per cent of African Americans, 31 per cent of Hispanics and 30 per cent of Asian Americans voted for Trump, up 3 percentage points from 2016 in all three groups.

The close election underscored the political polarisation in the US.

What are the candidates saying?

Biden, 77, urged patience in the early hours and said: “We believe we’re on track to win this election.”

Trump, 74, appeared at the White House soon after to declare victory. “We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election,” Trump said, before launching an extraordinary attack on the electoral process by a sitting President. “This is a major fraud on our nation…. So we’ll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all counting to stop.”

Trump provided no evidence to back up his claim of fraud.

Is a legal brawl brewing?

It is not clear what Trump meant. The Supreme Court does not hear direct challenges but reviews cases that have worked their way up from lower courts. However, the election outcome could get bogged down in state-by-state litigation over a host of issues.

The electoral numbers are from the time this edition went to press.

The updated numbers at 4.16am (IST) are: Joe Biden- 253 Donald Trump- 214