ITV will run without adverts for more than eight hours on election night so it does not miss any major events after polls close.

The channel's coverage will run non-stop from 9.55pm on election day to 6am the next morning with ITV News political editor Tom Bradby taking the helm.

It is not the first time the channel has ditched advertising for major events - it did the same for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011.

Bradby will be joined in the studio by Julie Etchingham, Professor Colin Rallings, ITV News' election analyst for more than 20 years, and Professor Jane Green, as well as guests including former Labour cabinet ministers David Blunkett and Lord Mandelson.

He said: "All the signs are this will be the most exciting election of modern times, with a number of potentially complex political scenarios opening up.

"We are going to focus all our energies on making sense of it for our viewers. You can't always say this with politics, but it looks like it will be a night to remember."