THE FIRST rule of an election count: plenty of carbohydrates.

The second rule of an election count: Don’t get there at 10pm, you’ll be waiting until the early hours for an official declaration.

The third rule of an election count: Sleep beforehand.

And definitely do not eat your bodyweight in McDonald’s at 1am before the count.

This was the advice given to me by Herald reporter and colleague Daniel Gee in the lead-up to count night.

Before the evening slog, I visited The Spire Church – which served as a polling station – to speak to residents after casting their votes.

David Quick threw his support behind the Conservatives, commenting: “We need Jeremy Hunt to get on with the job. Corbyn does not know what he is doing.”

One gentleman referred to the current state of politics as “cynical”, asserting he voted for “anything but Tory”.

While the responses of those at The Spire Church seemed to be a more level playing field, this was not reflected in the BBC’s exit poll at 10pm.

A Conservative landslide was predicted, making gains across the country, stealing constituencies from the hands of Labour.

Surprisingly, getting that extra sleep now seemed a possibility.

Upon arrival at the count, held at The Edge Leisure Centre, Haslemere, it was clear tensions were already rising.

Liberal Democrat candidate Paul Follows described himself as “trying to figure out what was wrong with the country” – while chairman of the South West Surrey Conservative Association and former councillor Denise Le Gal said her team “never expected this”.

Speaking to the Herald, she expressed how she was (jokingly) “very disappointed” that she underestimated the Conservative majority – having predicted 342 seats won, 23 shy of the actual total.

Former Waverley Borough Council leader Julia Potts also spoke to the Herald, praising the voters who “really understood how important this election was”, adding it could get rid of the “continual paralysis” in both local and national government.

Despite the Conservatives’ positive outlook, the same could not be said for Green Party candidate Steve Williams, who stood down as part of the Unite to Remain pact with the Liberal Democrats.

“It’s not coming together very well tonight,” he said.

“Things are looking very disappointing, but this is the way politics works.

“We were hoping we would have more than one Green Party member in parliament, because the system is so biased against a small party.”

While the party had hoped their stepping down in some areas would lead the way for Liberal Democrats to take seats, that outcome was short lived as they made no gains, while the party leader Jo Swinson lost her seat in East Dunbartonshire.

One of my favourite parts of the evening was seeing the reactions of party members as results came through on television.

I can recall the moment Zac Goldsmith lost his seat in Richmond Park – you could hear a pin drop on the Conservative side – but a Labour Party member let out a series of cheers of joy with the result.

However, cheers were later heard from the Conservative team as former cabinet member Jeremy Hunt comfortably scooped his fifth term as MP for South West Surrey – with a 76.8 per cent voter turnout overall.

However, opposition parties gave a firm warning to the returning MP – they would not be going anywhere, and they would be holding Mr Hunt and the Conservative Party to account on their promises on both at a national and local scale.