US election: Which states are counting and when will they be done?

Washington, United States - Democratic nominee Joe Biden is pulling clear of his incumbent Republican Donald Trump with 264 to 214 electoral votes.

The outcome of the US presidential election hung in the balance on Wednesday as five states continued to count ballots, including some of the most competitive battleground states where the tally could take days to complete.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden has a slight edge over incumbent Republican Donald Trump with 264 to 214 electoral votes. The winner needs to secure 270 votes.

Here is the state of play in the five states. The vote counts are supplied by Edison Research.

Alaska

Trump has a wide lead and is broadly expected to carry the state. Still, just 36 per cent of the expected vote has been counted, with Trump ahead by 61.4 per cent to 34.7 per cent.

Georgia

Trump is holding onto a narrow lead, but several of the large counties around Atlanta that lean Democratic have substantial numbers of ballots still to count. With 92per cent of the expected vote counted, Trump is ahead with 50.5 per cent versus 48.3 per cent for Biden.

The count in those key locations has resumed this morning, with vote tallies expected around midday. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he hoped to have a result by the end of Wednesday.

Nevada

Long seen as a solid Biden-leaning state, Nevada now appears in play. Edison Research data shows 86 per cent of the expected vote is in and Biden's lead is just 49.3 per cent to 48.7 per cent for Trump.

State officials expect the remaining votes - largely mail-in ballots - to be counted by 9 a.m. Pacific time (9pm) on Thursday. Clark County, the state's largest and home to Las Vegas, has tallied 84 per cent of expected votes so far and Biden is ahead there 52.9 per cent versus 45.4 per cent for Trump.

North Carolina

The margin between Trump and Biden is less than 2 percentage points as the president clings to a lead of 50.1 per cent to 48.7 per cent for the Democrat, with 95 per cent of the expected vote counted.

The state allows mail-in ballots postmarked by Tuesday to be counted if they are received by Nov. 12. On Wednesday morning, the Biden campaign said they expect a final result to take several days.

Pennsylvania

Of the battleground states, Pennsylvania has the furthest to go in counting votes, and Trump so far maintains a large lead. With 79 per cent of the expected vote counted, Trump is up 53.9 per cent to 44.8 per cent for Biden.

Officials there can accept mailed-in ballots up to three days after the election if they are postmarked by Tuesday. About 1 million votes remain to be counted, Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, said on Wednesday.

If the margin of victory is within half of 1 per cent, state law requires a recount.

Note: Vote counts supplied by Edison Research, which provides exit polls and voting data to the National Election Pool media consortium. Reuters has not independently tabulated the ballots.

• US Elections 2020
• USA