By political editor Paul Francis

The results across Kent are likely to have a significant influence on the eventual election outcome, with the county home to seven key marginal seats that could determine who gets the keys to Downing Street tomorrow.

The seven seats, all currently held by Labour, have come under a sustained attack by the Conservatives over the three-week long campaign and the party has made no secret that it has been targeting them in its efforts to turn Kent blue for the first time since Margaret Thatcher’s heyday.

Reports suggest that polling stations in all parts of the county have been busy throughout the day, indicating that turnout could be up on 2005, when about 60 per cent of Kent voters came out.

If so, results could be declared later than previously anticipated. The first result to come in from Kent could be around 1am but with a close battle expected in some, recounts are possible, as they were in 2005. A string of results are expected between 2am and 3am.

The drama of polling day came when the Kent UKIP Euro MP Nigel Farage was involved in a plane crash which saw a light aircraft he was in nose-diving to the ground. He remains in hospital and will not be able to be at his count in Buckinghamshire, where he is taking on Speaker John Bercow.

In Kent, much attention will focus on the three Medway seats: Rochester and Strood; Gillingham and Rainham, one of the county’s two "super marginals," and Chatham and Aylesford.

The trio are seen as pivotal to the fortunes of both Labour, which is defending them and the Conservatives, who must capture them if David Cameron is to win a majority outright.

Elsewhere, Labour is defending a wafer thin majority of just 79 in Sittingbourne and Sheppey, the third most marginal seat in the country.

It is also expected to come under pressure in Dartford and towards the south coast, in Dover and Thanet South.

In Maidstone and the Weald, the campaign has seen a ferocious contest between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. The long-standing MP Ann Widdecombe is standing down after 23 years and her replacement as prospective candidate Helen Grant has been locked into a bitter tussle with Lib Dem candidate Peter Carroll.

The election has also seen a record number of candidates standing from minority parties who are hoping to exploit voter disaffection for the three main parties.