7.20am GMT

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the US election results. Barack Obama has been re-elected president of the US after a hard-fought campaign against Mitt Romney. The national polls had threatened a close race – perhaps even running for days – but in the end Obama soon achieved a clear lead in the electoral college, and with it another four years as president. Stay tuned here for all the essential reaction, comment and analysis from our team of correspondents and commentators as the final results continue to come in.

So far Obama is projected to have won 303 of the 538 electoral college votes, and Mitt Romney 203.

In the popular vote, Obama is ahead by 54,151,648 to 53,353,663 – but it remains a possibility that Romney could overtake him.

The Democrats have retained control of the Senate, and the Republicans have kept hold of the House of Representatives.

In his speech in Boston conceding defeat, Romney said of Obama: “I pray that he will be successful in guiding our nation.”

Meanwhile, Obama told a crowd of supporters chanting “four more years” in Chicago that the American people had “picked ourselves up” and fought back during tough economic times, and promised: “The best is yet to come.” He said he would meet Romney to discuss how they could work together. The two had “battled fiercely, but it’s only because we love this country deeply”.

You can read all our coverage from earlier in the night here.

And here is Ewen MacAskill and Chris McGreal's full news story on Obama's victory.