9:30am: At 8.30am South African time (06h00 UTC/GMT), 3.3 million votes had been counted, reported the SA Press Association. The ANC won 2.1 million of them, the DA 636,637 and COPE 251,200.
12.01am: The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) started releasing poll results at 11h17 pm on Wednesday night.
First results put the ANC in the lead with 58.51 percent of the total national vote, and the Democratic Alliance at 22.83 percent. A battle for third position in these early poll results has emerged between the newly-formed Congress of the People and the Independent Democrats, with 6.75 percent and 6.50 percent respectively.