Donald Trump closed the gap to his Democratic challenger Joe Biden in the state of Arizona but lost ground in Pennsylvania and Georgia as counting of votes from the US presidential election continued under the shadow of allegations of fraud by the Republican incumbent and his supporters.
With Mr Biden ahead in the race to 270 electoral college votes to win the presidency, his hopes of crossing the line would received a big boost from flipping either Pennsylvania or Georgia out of the six states still to deliver clear results.
Three days after the November 3 election, the focus of the vote count is now on the mail-in ballots that Mr Trump has claimed would allow for electoral fraud.
Mr Trump's lead in Georgia, with 16 electoral college votes, shrank to just 1,709 votes with about 14,000 ballots left to be counted. A final result is not expected until Friday night UAE time after several counties halted counting on Thursday night.
In Pennsylvania, Mr Biden narrowed the gap to Mr Trump to 18,229 votes with about 163,000 ballots left to be counted to decide who will receive the state's 20 electoral college votes.
However, Mr Trump gained on Mr Biden in Arizona, narrowing the Democrat's lead to 46,000 with about 293,000 ballots to count. The battle for the state's 11 electoral college votes remains tight despite Associated Press calling it in Mr Biden's favour. Officials are expected to announce their next count update on Friday.
Mr Biden was also leading in neighbouring Nevada, which is expected to declare results on Friday. He would be able claim another six electoral college votes with a win if he holds on to his lead here, which stood at 11,438 overnight with an estimated 89 per cent of votes counted.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump was on track for wins in North Carolina (15 electoral college votes) and Alaska (3).
The Justice Department said on Thursday that it was looking into whether mail-in ballots in Nevada were improperly cast by people who had moved out of the state, in one of several election challenges launched by the president's lawyers over alleged fraud.
Mr Trump has sought a recount in Wisconsin, filed lawsuits in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia and complained about counting procedures.
The president repeated allegations of election fraud on Thursday evening in his second address at the White House since November 3. "They are trying to steal the election," Mr Trump said, claiming Democrats were using "illegal votes".
"If you count the legal votes, I easily win," he said. "They're trying to rig an election. And we can't let that happen."
Mr Biden's camp dismissed the allegations as "political theatre". Bob Bauer, a top Biden adviser, said the legal challenges being filed in several states by Mr Trump’s campaign were "meritless” and should be seen as “part of a broader misinformation campaign that involves some political theatre”.
Several major US television networks cut away from live coverage of Mr Trump's address over concerns of disinformation and there were signs of cracks in support within his Republican Party.
Representative Will Hurd called Mr Trump's call to stop vote-counting "dangerous and wrong", while Rupert Murdoch's long supportive New York Post called Mr Trump's allegations "baseless".
But prominent Republicans rallied behind Mr Trump and signalled that they could challenge the legitimacy of results if the president loses.
"I think everything should be on the table," Senator Lindsey Graham said when asked by Fox News host and Trump loyalist Sean Hannity if Pennsylvania's Republican-led legislature should refuse to certify results.
Trump supporters rallying around the “stop the steal” slogan gathered in Phoenix, Atlanta and Las Vegas on Thursday, with more events planned. In Philadelphia, they were met by anti-Trump protesters with signs reading “count the vote”. Protests near the White House and throughout the capital continued, although they drew smaller crowds.
