SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is “extremely confident” the party is heading back into power at Holyrood – although she conceded winning an overall majority of MSPs there is a “very, very long shot”.

As early results started to come in from Thursday’s Scottish Parliament elections, the Scottish First Minister downplayed the prospect of winning a majority.

However, she insisted it was an “extraordinary achievement” for her party to win an historic fourth term in power.

The First Minister spoke out as she arrived at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, where votes are being counted.

I am feeling extremely happy and extremely confident that we are on track in the SNP for a fourth consecutive election victory and to have the ability to form a government

The coronavirus pandemic means that traditional overnight counting was abandoned, with the results of seats instead being announced over Friday and Saturday.

Speaking about the prospect of the SNP winning 65 seats or more in the Scottish Parliament, Ms Sturgeon said: “A majority has always been a very, very long shot.”

The SNP won an unprecedented Holyrood majority in 2011, under Ms Sturgeon’s predecessor, Alex Salmond.

But Ms Sturgeon said: “The Holyrood system is a proportional representation system, in 2011 we effectively broke that system.

“So it would be good to do, but I have never taken that for granted.

“That has always been on a knife edge, a small number of votes in a small number of seats.

“So we will wait and see how the votes pan out over today and tomorrow.

“But at this stage in the results, and there is a long, long way to go, I am feeling extremely happy and extremely confident that we are on track in the SNP for a fourth consecutive election victory and to have the ability to form a government.

“And that is an extraordinary achievement for any political party.”

Her comments came as the SNP made the first gain of the Holyrood campaign, winning the East Lothian seat – which had been held by Labour’s Iain Gray.

Meanwhile Deputy First Minister John Swinney said that the SNP would be the “leading and largest party” in the new Scottish Parliament – though he too said it is still too early to say if the party will win an overall majority.

Mr Swinney, also the Education Secretary in the Scottish Government, comfortably held his Perthshire North seat, increasing his majority over the Tories.

His was among the first handful of seats to declare as votes were counted after polling day on Thursday.

He said: “It is an enormous pleasure to see the prospects of the return of an SNP government for a fourth historic term, given the scale of the vote that my party is experiencing the length and breadth of the country.”

With the SNP having used the election campaign to push for a second independence referendum, Mr Swinney vowed he would “do all that I can” to “ensure that the people of Scotland have a choice on their future as they should have”.

While he said there is a “long way to go” before all the results are known, Mr Swinney insisted it is “beyond any doubt” that the SNP will form the next government.

He added: “That is an absolutely gigantic feat for the Scottish National Party to have achieved, to be on the brink of a fourth continuous term.”

The first seat to be declared in the race for Holyrood was Orkney, with Liberal Democrat Liam McArthur holding on to the constituency for Willie Rennie’s party.

Minutes later, the SNP held Aberdeen Donside, with councillor Jackie Dunbar taking the seat previously filled by Mark McDonald – who resigned from the party after allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women.

Early results suggest turnout among voters is up from the last election in 2016.

The SNP went on to hold the Western Isles seat, with sitting MSP Alasdair Allan returned for Ms Sturgeon’s party, polling 7,454 votes.

It also held the Clydebank and Milngavie seat, with newcomer Marie McNair elected to replace Gil Paterson, who stepped down from Holyrood.

Ms McNair was successful after securing 17,787 votes.

The SNP narrowly held the Banffshire and Buchan Coast constituency, with candidate Karen Adam winning 14,920 votes, just ahead of Conservative Mark Findlater on 14,148 votes.

Previously held by Stewart Stevenson, the SNP had a majority of 6,683 in the seat in 2016, but that has been cut to just 772 after a 10.3% swing to the Tories.

At the Glasgow count, Scotland’s Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said members of an anti-vaccine party made a “beeline” for him due to his skin colour.

Derek Jackson, standing for the Liberal Party in Glasgow Southside, arrived at the count with supporters wearing black suits and yellow stars with “unvax” written on them, and claimed to be satirising “fascist SNP hate laws”.

After they approached Mr Yousaf, members of other political parties joined the SNP to confront them.

Speaking to reporters after the incident, Mr Yousaf said: “What I’m always struck by is voices of good always outweigh the voices of hatred.”