A record number of Londoners have come out to vote in the capital's Mayoral elections where Ken Livingstone is hoping he can buck the national trend in the polls.

This year's Mayoral elections have seen an estimated 2.4 million voters head to the polls - an estimated turnout of 45 per cent.

"We will only know the definite turnout at the end of the count. But this figure should be correct within 2 per cent either way," a London Elects spokesperson said.

It is the first time more than two million people have voted in this election. Almost 5.5 million people were registered to vote.

The turnout in 2004 was 37 per cent (1.9 million voters) while 2000 saw around 35 per cent of voters going to the polls.

With just over a quarter of votes counted in each of the 14 electoral areas, early results had Mr Johnson leading in 9 while Labour's Ken Livingstone is ahead in five.

With the Labour Party headeded toward its worst local election defeat in four decades, the Conservative party were understandably optimistic about their candidate Boris Johnson usurping Livingstone as leader of the capital.

One bookmaker announced it was paying out on a victory for Mr Johnson.

Despite the final result not due until later this evening, Paddy Power said the "mauling" Labour had received elsewhere in England and Wales suggested the Conservative candidate was on his way to City Hall.

A spokesman said: "After the kick in the ballots that Labour has had overnight, we expect Boris to put the final nail in their local elections coffin."