Emotions ran high at Wandsworth Town Hall tonight as some candidates went on to post-election parties while others went home with their heads bowed.

The council registered a total of 75 journalists from across the national and local media to witness counts in one of the most pivotal boroughs in the country.

Council workers said there was an unusual buzz in the Civic Suite as supporters from all corners waited for the ballots to be counted.

“I was here for the 1997 count,” said local special constable, Fred Ahmed.

“This is the most exciting one yet. Who knows what will happen.”

Supporters from each party watched as council workers leafed through hundreds of papers, hoping to form an idea of the final result.

On the Putney side, Conservative Justine Greening emerged as the obvious winner early in the night, and as her pile of votes stacked up to more than 21,000, the other candidates took their loss gracefully.

While the votes were still being counted, Labour's Stuart King said he was looking forward to going home tonight and having the first good night's sleep in a long time.

He said: “The real difficulty is, we're 13 years into a Government. It's difficult to win a forth successive election.

“But we campaigned hard and treated it as the marginal seat that it is.”

Meanwhile in Battersea, it was a sad night for former Labour MP Martin Linton, who gave a good fight even though he was almost sure to lose.

In his departing speech, he promised to continue to stand up for local people, but was greeted by jeers from several Tory supporters.

Jane Ellison gave an inspiring speech to launch the constituency's new era under the Conservatives.

But the Tooting count was the most tense, with an overall majority of around 3,000.

No-one knew until the very last minute which way it would go, with the possibility of a recount being considered by Clarke's team.

After the announcement, Clarke made a swift exit, while Sadiq Khan's supporters chanted “yes we Khan” before making their way to a post-election party.