FIRST it was Bush's victory; then it was Gore's. Then it was Bush's - Gore even called him to concede defeat. But 76 minutes later Gore called him back and said it ain't over until Florida sings.

But with just 1,200 votes separating the two candidates in Florida, its returns will have to be re-sifted and re-counted and now it will not be until later today that the name of the 43rd President of the United States of America.

Here, with GMT times, is how one of the most dramatic nights America has ever seen unfolded as the fortunes of George W Bush and Al Gore ebbed and flowed:

11pm: Bush appears bound for the White House as voting closes in Kentucky and Indiana. Exit polls point to easy victories for the Republican. Kentucky is particularly important as in the last 50 years, whoever it has voted for has gone on to become president.

Midnight: The picture becomes a little confused as polling closes in the vital state of Florida and five other states. Exit polls give Bush victory in South Carolina with Gore winning Vermont. But Florida, Virginia, New Hampshire and Georgia are too close to call.

12.05am: Bush looks confident as he walks into a hotel in Austin, Texas, to watch the results on television with his father, former President George Bush and his mother Barbara. He smiles and gives a thumbs up sign. Gore settles in for a long night in Tennessee.

12.30am: Voting closes in Ohio, North Carolina and West Virginia. Exit polls say it is too close to call a winner.

12.50am: Bush is dealt a devastating blow as an exit poll by Voter News Service for Associated Press and five television networks gives Gore the first big state - Florida - with 25 Electoral College votes. Because Florida crosses two time zones, some areas of the state were still voting when the exit poll 'result' was being announced - a clear breach of an election agreement. The apparent loss of Florida is devastating to the Bush camp as their man had campaigned vigorously in the state and had expected to win if only because his brother Jeb is the Florida governor.

1am: Gore now looks bound for the White House as a CNN exit poll gives him the key state of Michigan, with 18 Electoral College votes. Another exit poll gives him New Jersey.

1.50am: Gore looks unassailable as exit polls give him the battleground state of Pennsylvania with 23 Electoral College votes. The Democrat takes the lead for the first time with 145 votes to Bush's 130.

2am: There is a further morale boost for the Democrats as the first lady Hillary Clinton wins a senate seat in New York. Gore wins New York, with 33 votes, says a CNN exit poll.

2.35am: Gore is victorious as exit polls give him Minnesota and he leads Bush 192 to 185.

2.45am: By now Bush is staring down the barrels of defeat. But his number-people advise him that the Florida exit poll may not accurate. Furiously Bush refuses to concede defeat in Florida.

2.55am: The TV networks cave in. Two hours earlier their Florida exit poll had handed the victory to Gore; now they agree that that might not be the case. ''If you're disgusted with us, frankly, I don't blame you,'' Dan Rather, the CBS television anchor, told viewers.

3.13am: The pendulum swings further towards Bush as Voter News Service retracts its earlier projection of Gore winning Florida. This is the cue for America's newspapers to declare Bush the 43rd president of the US. "Bush Wins!" said the bold red headline in the New York Post; "Bush captures the White House" said the New York Times.

3.30am: Bush has now won 20 states, including Gore's home state of Tennessee, and Gore has won 13.

4am: It is now on a knife-edge. With half of all votes counted Bush leads Gore by 49 per cent to 48 per cent. But Gore has 222 Electoral College votes to Bush's 213. Newspapers proclaiming the new president are pulled out of delivery trucks and pulped. The more cautious - and accurate - headlines read: "Bush leads in a tight one."

5am: Bush moves ahead again with 236 votes to Gore's 225.

6.30am: But again it gets closer: Bush has 246 college votes compared to Gore's 242 but no one can be sure where Florida's 25 are going to go as both candidates have 49 per cent of the counted vote.

7am: In Florida, with 95 per cent of votes counted, Bush has 2,736,318 to Gore's 2,676,793 - a difference of less than 60,000.

7.15am: But the difference is enough for CNN to announce that George W Bush has won the presidency.

7.16am: Gore phones Bush in Texas to congratulate him saying he is ''a formidable opponent'' and ''a good man.'' Dejected Gore, his presidential dream in tatters, heads for the war memorial in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, to make a concession speech. But his campaign manager William Daley appears before the crowd and says the race is not over.

8.32am: Gore calls Bush and retracts his concession of defeat. "Unbelievable," says the Bush advisor who takes the call. It has become clear that a margin of about 1,700 votes among the six million cast in Florida is not big enough to decide who should become America's next president until every vote is properly counted.

9.30am: CNN says that Bush leads Gore in Florida by just 224 votes.

Across the country, with 95 per cent of the votes counted, Gore, at 49 per cent, leads Bush, 48 per cent, by 360,730 out of almost 95 million votes.

10am: In Austin, Bush spokesman Don Evans tells a crowd waiting for a victory speech that Bush still believes he has won Florida and the presidency.

11am: Gore takes Wisconsin to give him 260 Electoral College votes with Bush on 246 - Florida has 25 electoral votes so the winner of that state will capture the presidency. But Florida is re-counting, watched by the eyes of the world, although Messrs Gore and Bush are so tired that their eyes have snapped shut.