Your guide to the key timings as the votes are counted in England and Wales

What to look out for as local elections results come in

Thursday 10pm – polls closed

All the main parties will have been gathering data outside polling stations all day, which is carefully collated and crosschecked, so they will have a sense of how turnout has been, and where their vote appears to be holding up – or collapsing.

There is then a long hiatus, while ballot boxes are opened and votes painstakingly counted.

Midnight

Results are expected to start trickling in, with Broxbourne in Hertfordshire one of the first likely to declare. The Conservatives hold 26 of the 30 seats on the council. Eleven of those are up for grabs, and the Tories will be watching closely to see whether voters disillusioned by the party’s Brexit performance are staying at home.

They won’t have the opportunity to vote for Nigel Farage’s new Brexit party though, because it is not contesting the local elections – and Ukip is not standing here either.

Labour-dominated Halton, in Cheshire, is likely to be another council first out of the blocks. Ukip is contesting a handful of the seats, but it is not a part of the country where the party has previously had much success.

Friday 1am

The trickle of results is likely to pick up speed, with councils expected including Salford, where the local MP, Rebecca Long-Bailey, has been among those determined to hold the line against Labour backing a second Brexit referendum, and Tameside, the backyard of the shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner.

Labour is hoping to make gains across the country, against the baseline of the previous time these seats were contested, in 2015, on the same day as David Cameron’s Tories won a majority at the general election. But MPs across a swath of Brexit-backing seats will be watching closely for evidence of a backlash against the party’s drift towards supporting a referendum.

Other councils expected to declare around this time are Castle Point, Dacorum, East Hertfordshire, Hartlepool, North Tyneside, Salford, South Tyneside, Sunderland, Swindon and Wolverhampton.

2am

Results should be coming in thick and fast by this time, helping build a picture of what is happening across the country.

Barnsley, Bury and Wigan, where one-third of the seats are up for grabs, are among the areas expected to declare.

Labour underperformed somewhat here in local elections last year, causing Lisa Nandy to warn about the risk of neglecting towns.

Meanwhile, Brexit-voting Peterborough’s results will be scrutinised especially carefully by all the main parties, because there is a byelection here on 6 June, after voters chose to eject the former Labour MP Fiona Onasanya. The Tories currently hold a small majority on the council.

Plymouth is on the list, too – Jeremy Corbyn held his post-election rally here after Labour took control of the council last year. It will be hoping to consolidate those gains, while the Conservatives hope to win it back.

Other results due include Chelmsford, Ipswich, Rugby and Thurrock, where the Conservatives hope to take control.

2.30am

Results are expected from Stockport, where one-third of the seats are up for grabs, and Ukip and the Green party are contesting a number of them, so voters wishing to kick the Westminster establishment will have the opportunity to do so (or they may stay at home).

3am

It should be possible to build a pretty clear picture of what is going on across the country.

The next batch of seats includes some in the former Conservative and now Change UK MP Anna Soubry’s Broxtowe seat.

It also includes Portsmouth, where both main parties have been been forced to deny racial discrimination claims, and the Liberal Democrats will be hoping to make gains.

Results are expected from Barrow, Bracknell Forest, Brentwood, Broxtowe, Colchester, Dudley, Epping Forest, Hertsmere, Kingston upon Hull, Lincoln, Liverpool, Luton, Maldon, Melton, North Kesteven, North West Leicestershire, Portsmouth, Reading, South Lakeland, St Albans, Telford and Wrekin, Tendring, Trafford, Vale of White Horse, Wakefield, Welwyn Hatfield and Wokingham.

3.30am

Derby, where the Conservatives run the council in a confidence-and-supply arrangement with the unusual pairing of the Lib Dems and Ukip, is one Labour would love to take control of.

4am

If anyone is still awake, the next batch of councils includes areas that have previously been happy hunting grounds for the Lib Dems, including Eastleigh and Cambridge.

Cambridge city council is currently Labour-dominated. As well as local issues, the Lib Dems may be hoping what they characterise as Labour’s vacillation on Brexit will benefit them.

Theresa May’s Windsor and Maidenhead area is also announcing around now – but since the Conservatives hold 48 of the 57 seats, and it has been Tory-led since 2007, don’t expect a revolution here.

Others expected around now are Allerdale, Boston, Braintree, Cotswold, Coventry, Dartford, East Lindsey, Folkestone and Hythe, Leeds, Newcastle, North Devon, North Norfolk, Slough, South Holland, Southampton and Tewkesbury.

5am

Bath and North East Somerset, where the Lib Dems took the seat from the Conservative Ben Howlett in the 2017 general election, is one of those councils election-watchers are keeping their eyes on for signs of a Lib Dem fightback.

The Labour MP Gloria De Piero’s area of Ashfield, where the party has faced a string of defections, will also be interesting to watch.

Also declaring around now are Derbyshire Dales, Eden, Hinckley and Bosworth, Nottingham, South Gloucestershire, South Kesteven, Test Valley, West Lindsey and Winchester.

6am

Early risers checking in to see what’s happening can keep an eye on the Brexit bellwether Stoke-on-Trent – though the council race there is a complex patchwork of independents.

Also up now are Torbay, Bolsover, East Staffordshire, Medway and North Lincolnshire.

8am

Somerset West and Taunton has been formed from one of a number of council mega-mergers, so it’s a clean slate.

South Oxfordshire results are also expected now.

Midday

Hyndburn, South Hams, South Norfolk, Kirklees, Malvern Hills, Worthing, Wychavon and Wyre Forest results are expected.

1pm

Milton Keynes is the sort of place Labour would want to be making gains if it is to form the next government at a general election, which many at Westminster expect to come within 12 months, perhaps much sooner. It’s currently a minority Labour administration, propped up by the Lib Dems.

Results are expected from Breckland, Darlington, Fenland, Gateshead, Hambleton, Knowsley, Milton Keynes, Pendle, Preston, Redcar and Cleveland, Richmondshire, Sedgemoor, Solihull, Surrey Heath, West Oxfordshire and West Suffolk.

2pm

Are you still paying attention? Lots of Tory shires in the next batch of seats, including Tunbridge Wells.

Amber Valley, Burnley, Calderdale, Cannock Chase, Central Bedfordshire, East Suffolk, Eastbourne, Great Yarmouth, New Forest, Rossendale, Ryedale, Scarborough, Stafford, Stratford-on-Avon, Torridge, Uttlesford, West Devon, West Lancashire and Wyre.

3pm

We’re likely to see the first one or two of six mayoral elections around now, with Copeland in the Lake District and Middlesbrough expected to be first.

These races tend to be dominated by local issues, but unexpected results – such as when the Conservative Ben Houchen became Teesside mayor in 2017 – can boost party morale.

5pm

This is when we’re likely to get the results of an intriguing three-way race in York. The city council is run by a Tory-led coalition with the Lib Dems, though Labour are the largest party – and all three major parties have hopes of winning it. The Greens also hope to make gains.

6pm

Mansfield was an unexpected Conservative gain in the 2017 general election, and its MP, Ben Bradley, has been an outspoken critic of Theresa May’s Brexit deal. The council is currently finely balanced, but the Mansfield Independent Forum is in charge.

9pm

Finally, the last council result is expected in Cheshire East.