EU Referendum 2016 - A guide to all the action on voting day

Across the United Kingdom, millions of people will today make their way to leisure centres, churches and schools and will put a simple mark on a card that could have a profound impact on the place that we call home.

By breakfast time tomorrow we will know whether the United Kingdom will remain as one of the 28 members of the European Union or whether plans will be under way to cut our ties with the EU and go it alone.

• Get in touch with your views and pictures throughout the day and tomorrow morning

In Oxfordshire almost 30,000 more people have registered to vote ahead of today's historic vote. 

• Pictures from polling stations in Oxfordshire over the years 

We'll be bringing you all the latest coverage of the votes and the counts and results as we get them throughout the night and early hours. 

Here's your guide to how it'll work: ​

THE VOTE 
7am-10pm 

Polling stations will open at 7am and close at 10pm.

In Oxford, 97,307 people are registered to vote in the referendum.

THE COUNT
10pm onwards

Ballot boxes will arrive at counting centres after the polls close at 10pm, with verification carried out first.

Counts in Oxfordshire will be held in Oxford; Banbury for Cherwell District; Abingdon for South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse; and Witney for West Oxfordshire.

Things will be quiet at this stage as there are no exit polls planned for the EU referendum.

If you want to keep an eye on things, go to the Oxford Mail’s website and open our live-blog. This will run from 10pm.

According to analysis by think tank Open Europe, there are several areas to watch if you want to know how well it is going for each campaign.

Using data from the British Election Survey, areas thought to be most favourable towards voting ‘leave’ are Fenland, Boston, South Holland, Castle Point, Great Yarmouth, Tendring, Forest Heath, Gravesham, Thanet and Thurrock.

Meanwhile university cities Oxford and Cambridge are likely to vote ‘remain’, alongside Greater London boroughs Camden, Southwark, Hackney, Lambeth, Islington and the City of London, as well as Scottish cities Glasgow and Edinburgh.

If we see any major upsets, that could be a sign of things to come.

THE FIRST NATIONAL RESULTS
Est. 12.30am Friday 

Expect the first result at about 12.30pm from Sunderland, usually first to declare in parliamentary elections.

This is a Labour area that also has strong support for UKIP and so is likely to vote for Brexit.

At around the same time, we should hear from both the Isle of Wight and Gibraltar which are both expected to strongly support Remain.

MOST RESULTS IN
1am-3am 

Several more results will arrive in this period. According to the Electoral Commission, the Oxfordshire results are expected at:

* Oxford – 2am
* West Oxfordshire – 3am
* South Oxfordshire/Vale of White Horse – 4.30am
* Cherwell – 6am

Expect a win for Remain in Oxford, but another to watch is West Oxfordshire.

As a wealthy, Tory stronghold it could be a measure of how well Remain can do in the English shires. Needless to say, a win for the Leave campaign would be a body-blow for local MP and Prime Minister David Cameron.

Elsewhere in the country, at about 1am results should arrive from Swindon, likely to favour Brexit, and Newcastle, with other Northern areas like Wigan, Salford and Stockport following closely at about 1.30am.

These areas are predicted to back Leave and, like Sunderland, should give a better idea of how Labour supporters in the North are voting.

Between 1.30am and 3.30am most Scottish and Welsh areas will also declare.

By this time results from several Remain-friendly London boroughs will come in. Leave will be banking on winning Basildon, Harlow and Castle Point in Essex.

Nuneaton and Bedworth, a bellwether in General Elections, is expected to declare at 2am.

From 3am to 4am we will start to get an idea of which way things are going as the majority of votes come in.

THE RESULT
6am 

We should know the overall result nationally by this time, as it’s when the last of the counts should have finished.

Results will be collated into 12 regional totals, then one final, national result.

THE AFTERMATH

Expect a statement from David Cameron on the steps of Downing Street, whichever way it goes.

If it’s a vote for Remain, the Prime Minister is likely to urge both sides of the debate to put aside their differences. This may prove more difficult than it sounds.

But if it’s a vote for Leave, Mr Cameron could announce his resignation – even though he has insisted he will not.

If he does quit, don’t expect a swift departure. The PM needs to advise the Queen on who his successor will be and Tory party leadership contests tend to take a few months.

Meanwhile, the act of leaving the EU will not automatically be triggered by the referendum result which is not legally binding.

Instead, the Government would have to decide when to trigger Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union and formally notify the EU of Britain’s withdrawal. This would begin a period of negotiations.