These are the closest presidential elections in history - as Biden vs Trump election goes to the wire

With the final result of the 2020 US presidential race still in the balance, it’s already clear that this was not quite the landslide that either side had predicted.

As a result of a major surge in early voting and complications caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the result of this election may not be entirely clear for some time.

But while the exact circumstances surrounding the Biden vs Trump election are fairly unique, this isn’t the first time that a US presidential election has come down to the wire.

Here are the closest elections in history explained.

John Quincy Adams vs Andrew Jackson

The 1824 US presidential race would have been almost unrecognisable to most voters today, with five main candidates all in contention who had been selected due to regional popularity rather than their affiliation to a certain party.

The candidates were John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, John C Calhoun, William H Crawford and Henry Clay, though Calhoun dropped out midway through in hopes of winning the vice-presidency instead.

With so many candidates in play, none were able to amass enough votes in the electoral college, so the decision was eventually taken by lawmakers in the House of Representatives.

Adams eventually won by a single vote, after Clay dropped out and his supporters backed him over Jackson.

Rutherford Hayes vs Samuel Tilden

Republican Rutherford Hayes and Democractic New York governor Samuel Tilden fought an incredibly tight-run election in 1876.

Both were vying to replace the unpopular Republican president, Ulysses S Grant, whose presidency had been racked with scandal.

During a long and tough election campaign, which was reportedly marred by issues with vote counting and extreme hostility, Tilden amassed more votes but Hayes won the electoral college by a single vote.