LONDON, England – It's almost 0200 GMT and 15 or so of the remaining revellers at the CNN Election party in London are perched along a row of white stools, staring at a plasma screen as results of the U.S. election come in. They have the look of people settling in for a long night. The early anticipation of the evening has abated. Now they just want results.

It’s the early hours of Wednesday morning in London as the projections come in.

The first cheers of the evening ring out as the results of key states are announced. There's a whoop following the Obama win in New Hampshire. Another cheer when CNN projects Obama to win Pennsylvania. Hoots later still when Obama takes Ohio.

New Yorker Gillian Gordon, who now lives in London, is clear about who she wants in the White House: "Obama, Obama, Obama."

"I was really nervous at the beginning," she says. "When the polls closed and we saw some of the early states going to McCain I started to get worried. We're all afraid of being as confident as we'd like to be given past history."

Perched down the other end of the row of stools is author James Fox. While cautiously confident of an Obama win, he had no plans at that stage to go home.

"When I see a sensational win I will go to bed and wake up early tomorrow morning," he said. What would be a significant win? "Virginia would be very significant," he replied.

Further down the couch was a very tired and "very nervous" Diane Abbott. In 1987, the British Labour MP became the first black woman elected to the House of Commons.

How long was she going to stay up and watch? All night, she said. She's catching a flight to New York in the morning and wasn't prepared to take the risk of a repeat of the Presidential election in 2000. Then, she went to bed at 0230 thinking the Democrats had won only to wake up to a Republican victory.

Next to Diane Abbott is Shami Chakrabarti, director of British pressure group Liberty. "It's really time for a prayer isn't it?" she asks.

"We're sitting here watching projections. We don't want more projections - I want to see real results," she says.

When will you feel more relaxed about the way the election's panning out? "I'll feel better when it's conceded," she said.

Half an hour later, there are just few people left along the row of stools. Diane Abbott is with them, still looking tired. It could be a long night.