THE race for the White House has finally reached its conclusion and the people of America have chosen Donald Trump as their new President.

More than 120m Americans went to the voting stations to choose their new Commander in Chief to produce a result which sent shockwaves around the world.

3 Trump and Clinton were involved in one of the most vicious elections in history Credit: Getty Images

How close was the race?

In the end, Trump passed the magic 270-vote barrier with relative ease.

The Republican crossed the line by winning Wisconsin, giving him an unassailable tally of 276.

His win in Florida proved to be the key moment after a nip-and-tuck tussle in the Sunshine State.

Clinton’s slowly realised throughout the night that the Presidency might be slipping from her grasp.

And the Democrat finally conceded defeat to Trump on the telephone at 7.30am this morning. Over the last year, Donald closed the gap on Hillary remarkably, going from rank outsider for the Republican nomination to almost neck and neck by the time polling day arrived.

Yet the real estate mogul’s chances still seemed slim after the emergence of a series of controversial comments and allegations of sexual misconduct led to his rival opening a nine-point lead in mid-October.

However, Clinton’s prospects got a setback when the FBI announced that it was relaunching its investigation into the Democrat’s email use.

The consequences were huge: one ABC/Washington Post poll, which had Trump 12 points behind just a week before, incredibly showed him AHEAD by a single point after the scandal resurfaced.

Rioting erupts across America as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump supporters clash

What happens next and what can we expect from the new President?

How much power will Trump have as President? What can he actually do?

But another, from the New York Times/NBC, gave Hillary a three-point advantage – and then the FBI cleared Clinton of any wrong doing.

Indeed, one poll tracker showed very little between them: the former First Lady is at 46.6 per cent overall, with Trump just behind on 44.8 per cent.

Mrs Clinton had about a 90% chance of becoming the next American President, according to the final Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation survey. But that lead looks to be drastically dropping.

As votes poured in from across the country, Donald Trump managed to take Indiana, West Virginia, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi , Texas and Kentucky and has sensationally also won Ohio and Florida while Hillary Clinton has fallen behind taking states including New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maryland giving Trump a 276 to 218 lead.

3 Victory for the blond billionaire from New York Credit: Getty Images

Clinton was considered the clear favourite by most bookies but by the the final result was announced Sun Bets were offering odds of 1/100 on Trump winning and 14/1 on Clinton.

There was much speculation that like the EU referendum in the UK the pollsters and bookies could be in for a surprise - and it turned out they were.

Much like the "shy Tories" who gifted the last General Election to David Cameron, and the quiet Brexiteers who won the EU referendum for Leave, some quarters think "shy Trumpers" handed victory to The Donald.

How did the election work?

The US Presidential election system works in a very different way to our own.

Each of the 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, where Washington is located, has a number of votes in the Electoral College to award to a candidate.

The number of votes is based on the number of members of congress the state has which is in proportion to the population of the state.

All states bar Maine and Nebraska give their votes on a winner takes all basis according to which candidate received the most number of votes in that state.

This means that it is important to win the states with a large population such as California, New York, Texas and Florida.

Last election showed this up perfectly when Obama got 53 per cent of the total votes cast in the election but a whopping 68% of the electoral college votes by taking these key states.

Trump and Clinton will be in a race to 270 Electoral College votes with the first candidate to hit that number taking up residence in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

How did the swing states go?

The key to taking the Presidency is winning the so called "swing states" - and Donald certainly did that.

These are states which regularly switch their vote between the Republican and Democratic parties, much like marginal constituencies in the UK.

Ohio is the best example of a swing state as it has gone the way of the winning candidate in every election since 1964 when Lyndon B. Johnson remained president having succeeded JFK after his assassination the year before.

Trump eventually won the battleground states of Ohio, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania - four crucial states in the race for the Oval Office

3 The race was hit by health rumours, corruption allegations and questions over taxes Credit: Reuters

Why was it a fairly close race?

Put simply, the polls were close because both candidates are so unpopular.

Trump's combative style of debate and provocative polices alienate almost as many as they win over according to pollsters. The controversies that have repeatedly surfaced during his campaign, such as the infamous “Trump tapes”, have also distanced him from key groups of voters.

Clinton has long been considered untrustworthy by the vast majority of Americans and is viewed as the embodiment of the "establishment", having been First Lady, a Senator and Secretary of State. Polls show that the latest email scandal had rocked her already shaky presidential campaign.