Tally final shows that Connolly has topped the poll in Longford Westmeath
11.52am
The tally has been completed in the John Count McCormack Centre at TUS Athlone.
Catherine Connolly ends up with 58.2 per cent; Heather Humphreys with 34.6 per cent; Jim Gavin with 7.2 per cent, and spoiled votes accounted for 15.1 per cent of the total.
Meanwhile, the count centre staff are now formally sorting the votes into their pigeonholes.
11.31 am
After the tally out of 164 out of 177 boxes, it's Connolly 58.4 per cent, Humphreys 34.5 per cent and Gavin 7.2 per cent with 15.3 per cent spoiled.
11.17am
A variety of messages have been written on the votes deemed "spoiled".
While many have the name of Maria Steen written on them, some others wrote the names of other hopefuls who didn't suceed in getting onto the paper. Among those names was that of Conor McGregor.
Some of the messages were more blunt: "Jackasses" was spotted at least once; "Not suitable" also featured - as did "None fit to be president!"
11.08 am
The tally results from more than half the boxes are now in the central tally computer here at the John Count McCormack centre in Athlone.
The picture is largely unchanged.
Catherine Connolly is on 59.1 per cent (11,911 votes); Heather Humphreys on 33.8 per cent (6,822 votes); Jim Gavin on 7.1 per cent (1,425 votes).
Spoilt votes are 15.6 per cent (3,721).
The tally is now complete for 66 per cent of the Athlone boxes; for 62 per cent of Kinnegad's boxes; 52 per cent of the Moate boxes and 40 per cent of the Mullingar boxes.
The Longford figures are Ballymahon 79 per cent; Granard 58 per cent and Longford 65 per cent.
10.55am
The sorting of votes is finished at the John Count McCormack centre in Athlone, so a final tally is anticipated shortly.
The actual counting is to begin shortly, and the formal decision on spoiled votes.
10.46 am
Never has there been an election in which there's been so much interest in the spoiled votes - and here, they are running at 15.3 per cent, with 66 out of the 177 boxes tallied.
Connolly is unassailable, on 59.2 per cent; Humphreys is on 33.6 per cent and Gavin is on 7.3 per cent.
"It'll be a short day," we are being told.
10.27 am
With 61 boxes now tallied out of 177, Catherine Connolly is on 56.7 per cent, Jim Gavin is now on 7.4 per cent and Heather Humphreys, 32.9 per cent.
At this stage, 53 per cent of the Athlone area boxes have been tallied; 41 per cent of the Moate boxes; 13 per cent of those from the Mullingr area and 34 from the Kinnegad area.
In terms of the Longford boxes, 43 per cent of the Ballymahon boxes are done; 26 per cent of the Granard boxes and 35 percent of those from Longford.
Spoiled votes have accounted for 15.4 per cent of the total.
10.10am
"It's game over," is how one senior tally figure has described the status of the presidential election race in the Longford Westmeath Constituency, just over an hour into the count.
With thirty out of 177 boxes tallied, Catherine Connolly is the clear leader, with 60.7 per cent of the valid votes.
Heather Humphreys is on 32.1 per cent and Jim Gavin is on 7.2 per cent.
So far, spoiled votes are running at 16.9 per cent of the total.
The count centre is quiet, and the tally team is warning that the figures won't be as precise as in other elections as many of those tallying are doing so alone.
Nationally, the total number of electors eligible to vote was 3,612,957, but the number who did actually exercise that option was considerably lower.
The Longford Westmeath constituency had the sixth greatest number of eligible voters - 103,865 - while some of the Dublin constituencies had numbers in the low 50s.
In total there are 43 Dáil constituencies.
The procedure is that the votes are being counted in each count centre.
Following administrative checks, the papers are sorted according to the first preferences shown on them.
When the first count is complete, the returning officer will send the results of first count to the principal returning officer in Dublin Castle using a standardised format that includes total poll, spoilt votes, total valid poll and first preference count.
Following submission of all first count results, the PRO calculates the quota for election. He also decides on the next steps regarding elimination of a candidate and distribution of transfers.
The PRO announces the result of Count 1 and next steps and then directs Local ROs to move on to exclude candidates or move to Count 2.
ROs announce local results for their constituency about 10 minutes after the PRO communicates the result and it is published on the www.presidentialelection.ie website (updated throughout the day and after each count).
Any requests for constituency recounts are relayed to the PRO by ROs.