Post Desk : Joe Biden has edged into the lead over Donald Trump in Georgia .

In a potentially pivotal moment in the 2020 US election, the Democratic candidate inched ahead in the traditionally Republican stronghold.

At 9.30am UK time, Mr Biden was standing on 2,449,371 votes – 917 ahead of Mr Trump, according to election analysts Decision Desk HQ.

There are just a few thousands votes in Georgia left to count and the result could still go either way. A recount appears likely.

But a win for Mr Biden, 77, would hand him the state’s 16 electoral college votes, taking his total to 269 – just one short of the magic 270 either candidate need to become the next president.

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oe Biden has edged into the lead over Donald Trump in Georgia .

In a potentially pivotal moment in the 2020 US election, the Democratic candidate inched ahead in the traditionally Republican stronghold.

At 9.30am UK time, Mr Biden was standing on 2,449,371 votes – 917 ahead of Mr Trump, according to election analysts Decision Desk HQ.

There are just a few thousands votes in Georgia left to count and the result could still go either way. A recount appears likely.

But a win for Mr Biden, 77, would hand him the state’s 16 electoral college votes, taking his total to 269 – just one short of the magic 270 either candidate need to become the next president.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper said after the 16 minute speech: “That is the most powerful person in the world and we see him like an obese turtle on his back, flailing in the hot sun, realising his time is over.”

Even Republican leaders joined a chorus of condemnation of Mr Trump’s attacks on the US election system and his apparently baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud after the nation’s biggest turnout in more than a century.

Mr Biden meanwhile appealed for calm amid fears that Mr Trump’s challenge to US democracy could result in violence on the streets.

“Democracy is sometimes messy,” the 77-year-old former vice president said in an address to media in Delaware.

“It sometimes requires a little patience as well. I ask people to stay calm. The process is working. The count is being completed and we’ll know very soon,” he added, tweeting later that he had launched the “largest election protection effort in history.”