The Oxford Mail's chief reporter Matt Oliver guides you through what will be a tumultuous night for British politics - and British political reporters.

We will be with you through the night bringing you the most comprehensive and up to date coverage of Oxfordshire results, and of course the emerging national picture.

Follow our live blog from 9.30pm through until the following morning, during which coffee will be drunk, tears shed and political lives made or broken.​

DID you manage to get plenty of sleep last night?

If you’re a politico, let’s hope the answer is yes because you are unlikely to get much tonight.

For while many people today will simply go to bed as normal, the rest of us will be up watching the biggest political event of the year unfold.

Will Theresa May and the Conservatives return triumphantly to Downing Street? Or will Labour and Jeremy Corbyn snatch victory from the jaws of defeat?

If you believe the polls – and these days that is a big ‘if’ – the result of today’s vote is certainly going to be tighter than it looked seven weeks ago, when Mrs May called the snap election. (Doesn’t it all seem so long ago already?)

But as our Prime Minister is fond of saying, the only poll that ultimately matters is the one today.

That’s why you should go out and cast your vote. And when you’ve finished, follow our guide to your election...

7am-10pm (voting)

Polling stations across the county will be open. The address of your polling station, along with a map, will be on your polling card received after registering to vote. You don’t need to bring your polling card with you to cast your ballot and, if you have lost it, you can also check your nearest polling station at yourvotematters.co.uk

10pm (the exit poll)

Voting ends and the BBC and Sky News will reveal the results of their exit poll. This is significant – most polls you are used to hearing about have sample sizes of 1,000 or 2,000 but the exit poll is from a sample of 20,000. The respondents are also people who have actually voted.

In 2015, the BBC exit poll correctly predicted a shock Tory majority.

11pm (first results)

As per usual, Sunderland’s slick counting operation means it is expected to be the first to announce its results (Houghton & Sunderland South, Sunderland Central and Washington & Sunderland West).

These should be safe Labour seats, so watch for any change in vote shares rather than headline results.

UKIP won 20 per cent of the vote in 2015, so all eyes will be watching to see whether this swings to the Tories or to Labour.

12am-2am (the calm)

This is when the slog begins and – if you’re a pro and planned in advance – the point where you deploy your sweets and salty snacks.

Results worth watching include strongly pro-EU seats Battersea (Conservative in 2015) and Putney (Conservative in 2015) at 1am. YouGov predicts Labour could steal victory from the Tories in Battersea, so watch where the votes go.

At 1.30am, expect to hear from Wrexham in North Wales, and Darlington in northeast England. These are both Labour-held but the Tories will be hoping to make gains.

2am-3am (the storm)

Only 50 results should be declared at most by this point, but from 2am onwards the results will start flying in. In Oxfordshire, 2am is when Oxford East is expected to declare. Something is going seriously wrong for Labour if they don’t win here.

But victory for the Tories in Bury South, Greater Manchester, could be an early sign they are on course for a whopping majority of 100 or more.

Elsewhere, Labour is fighting to keep Acton and the first results will start coming through from Scotland. Mr Corbyn’s Islington seat declares at 2.30am.

3am-4am (the flood)

At this stage we will be getting more than three declarations a minute on average. Expect Labour to be ahead overall because its safe seats tend to declare earlier than Tory strongholds.

The Tories will be hoping for gains in Newport, South Wales, Coventry in the West Midlands and seats in the North East like Stockton North. They should easily win seats such as Clacton and, if they are doing well, take others such as Southport. Vauxhall – which has a strongly Leave-supporting Labour candidate – will declare at 3.30am, a seat heavily targeted by the Lib Dems.

4am-5am (crunch time)

Another 150 results are due in this hour but by now the final picture should be emerging.

If Mrs May is having a good night then the Tories will take seats such as Enfield North, Hampstead & Kilburn, Harrow West and Wirral West from Labour. If Labour takes seats like Bolton West and Cardiff North, the UK could be headed for a hung Parliament. In Oxfordshire, Witney – a Conservative safe seat – is due to declare at 4.30am.

5am-midday (the home stretch)

This is when most Oxfordshire seats will declare. At 5am we should hear from Banbury and at 6am we should get the results of Henley, Oxford West & Abingdon and Wantage.

All of these will almost certainly be Conservative holds, but the Lib Dems will be hoping to snatch Oxford West & Abingdon from the Tories. The seat, where people strongly voted for Remain in the Brexit referendum, should have been furtile ground for the Lib Dems pro-EU campaign.

By 7am, almost all seats in the UK will have declared.