IT started quietly.

The central count at Manchester town hall was subdued with only a few people milling about as the clock struck 10.

Amid the Gothic splendour of granite and marble, the ornate ceiling panels, chandeliers and Victorian murals of the Great Hall, there was a muted air as the polls closed and a single final snapshot emerged putting Remain ahead by 52 points to 48.

It was what most politicians, pundits and market analysts had expected. To such a degree, that Brexiters began to point to defeat even before a handful of local counts had returned their results. Nigel Farage, the ebullient Ukip leader, was characteristically frank but in an unexpected way, admitting that the In crowd appeared to have “edged it”.

It was not a view shared by his Ukip colleague Paul Nuttall, who held onto the thought that it was “still 50/50”; that if Leave lost there would be another referendum in 2026 anyway; plus, the silver lining was that Ukip would experience an “SNP-style bounce”.

Then as it emerged Tory Brexiters had signed a letter to David Cameron, insisting the Prime Minister had a “duty” to stay on and steady the ship whatever happened, an early vote came through that caused a large intake of breath in the Great Hall. Sunderland had voted 61 to 39 to leave.

Combined with a narrow vote for Remain by metropolitan Newcastle, some onlookers presciently noted that areas, largely working class, had failed overwhelmingly to accept the Whitehall line. It would become the theme of the night.

As more votes came through, a pattern slowly began to emerge as Scottish authorities – and most of England's metropolitan areas – strongly supported Remain, but for large parts of rural England and Wales, the message was for Out.

By 2am, while only 20 of the 382 areas had announced their results, Brexiters were beginning to look happier while it was the Remainers’ turn to look subdued. Andy Burnham, the shadow home secretary, made an appeal to Labour supporters who had voted to leave in Sunderland and Newcastle, saying: “We hear you. We understand what you are saying. This referendum can’t mark the end of the process.”

A significant moment happened when the bookies, who had overwhelmingly put Remain well ahead, began saying that Brexit was odds-on to win.

Labour’s Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary, stressed how Britain was “split down the middle”. The weight of the language was beginning to shift.

Gawain Towler, Ukip press officer and long time associate of Mr Farage, confessed: “I arrived here tonight convinced we were going to lose but we might just pull it off.”

On the Remain side, recriminations began to spill out as English shire area after English shire area came out for Leave.

A war of words erupted between Labour and the SNP over who would be to blame if the referendum went belly up.

After a Labour source suggested the Scottish Nationalists had not campaigned hard enough in Glasgow or Edinburgh, Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “Labour has lost it. Scotland voting strongly Remain, Labour areas in Eng/Wales going Leave – but still all SNP fault.”

By 3.30am, Leave had pulled ahead by 400,000 and by 4am it was 500,000. The battle was slipping away from Remain. George Galloway, the former Bradford MP, all but claimed victory for Leave, saying: “First they ignored us. Then they laughed at us. Then they attacked us. Then we won.”

As the Leave lead crept towards 600,000, Mr Farage’s mood had changed dramatically, tweeting: “I now dare to dream that the dawn is coming up on an independent United Kingdom.”

By 4.30am, ITV called it for Leave, followed a few moments later by the BBC. the Ukip leader’s dream was turning into a reality. In the Great Hall the Vote Leavers began to appear in greater numbers. One activist with his mobile phone clapped to his ear was shouting to fellow Outer: “I can’t believe we’re actually going to do it.”

As 5am neared, any doubt that Britain had decided to leave the EU had evaporated. Mr Farage’s comment that Leave had gained victory “without a single bullet being fired” prompted a raft of anger.

SNP MSP Mark McDonald tweeted: “Farage is a despicable man. Utterly despicable. Without a bullet being fired”?!?! What a disgusting thing to say given recent events.”

But Brexit tails were up. Mr Nuttall, now in great demand in the Great Hall, declared: “This is just the beginning; we are going to make this country even better.” Asked about a fall in sterling, he replied: “That’s short-term pain for long-term gain.”

Remainers were despondent. Labour’s Keith Vaz admitted: “Frankly, in 1,000 years I would never have believed that the British people would have voted this way.”

Then, there was a commotion in the Great Hall. A large crowd gathered in front of the main dais. No one quite knew what was happening when Gisela Stuart, chairwoman of Labour Leave, appeared to a great cheer.

She struck a magnanimous chord and even spoke her native German to show that Britain remained outward-looking and intent on co-operating with its continental neighbours albeit outwith the EU.

“It is incumbent upon all of us to be very calm and remember our responsibility for the future of the United Kingdom and work together to start a process, because this is simply the beginning of the process of initiating leaving the European Union. In the long run we will find that both Europe and the United Kingdom will emerge stronger as a result,” she insisted.

By 7.20am, there was another commotion and another crowd gathered as Jenny Watson, the chief counting officer, took to the dais and read out the official result, declaring to Brexit cheers: “This means the UK has voted to leave the EU.”

Of course, everyone had known this an hour earlier but the momentous nature of the decision was still sinking in.

There was one final tweet from Mr Farage, who declared: “We’ve got our country back. Thanks to all of you. #independence day.”