As voters prepare for June 8, here’s a guide to what happens when the polling ends.

When do the polling stations close?

Polling stations will be open on the day of the election from 7am until 10pm. Counting of votes will start immediately after the close and continue throughout the night, with the first seat usually being announced before midnight.

To find your polling station, enter your postcode on wheredoivote.co.uk

What are exit polls and when do they come out?

An exit poll is an opinion poll taken as people are leaving a polling station. It asks how they have voted. This will be carried out during the day on June 8 and published after voting has closed.

When are the individual seat declaration times?

Estimated seat declaration times for Hackney have been created based on the 2015 general election. At present, results for Hackney North and Stoke Newington are expected at 4am on June 9, with Hackney South and Shoreditch following two hours later at 6am.

When is the final result expected?

The final result should be revealed sometime on the morning of June 9 with the first seats being declared from about midnight. Sunderland is often the first area to announce its results, doing so over the last six general elections.

In the UK we use the first-past-the-post voting system, which means the candidate with the most votes in each constituency becomes the MP for the area.

Usually, in order for a party to form a government, it needs to obtain more than half of the seats in the House of Commons – at least 323. The party with the second largest number of seats usually becomes the main opposition party.

But if no party finishes with more than half the seats, the incumbent prime minister can try to form a minority government by convincing other parties to vote for her Queen’s speech. If it becomes clear she won’t be able to get half of Parliament behind her, she is expected to resign whereupon the leader of the second party can try the same thing.

Alternatively, parties can form a coalition whereby members of more than one party are given government posts.

Results will be reported by the media as they are revealed, with each local authority publishing the results for parliamentary constituencies in that area. The Electoral Commission publishes the overall results and individual constituencies.

Vote counting can continue into the afternoon. Traditionally St Ives is the last of the 650 constituencies across the country to declare.

Still unsure who to vote for on the day? Take the quiz above and find out.