Partial results from Egypt's first genuinely competitive presidential elections showed the candidate of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood narrowly leading in a five-way race.
This is likely to take candidate Mohammed Morsi to run-off elections scheduled for June 16-17 but leaves the question wide open as to whether he will win.
Egyptians voted on Wednesday and yesterday to choose their first president after last year's popular uprising that ousted ruler Hosni Mubarak.
Contending for second place are Mr Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, moderate Islamist Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh and leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, who showed a surprise last-minute surge.
Ballots from 18 of Egypt's 27 governorates had been counted by mid-morning on Friday.
The most polarising figures in the race were Mr Morsi and former air force commander Mr Shafiq.
The Brotherhood is hoping for a presidential victory to seal its political domination of Egypt, which would be a dramatic turnaround from the decades it was repressed under Mr Mubarak.
It already holds nearly half of parliament after victories in elections late last year.
The group has promised a "renaissance" of Egypt, not only reforming Mubarak-era corruption and reviving decrepit infrastructure, but also bringing a greater degree of rule by Islamic law.
That prospect has alarmed more moderate Muslims, secular Egyptians and the Christian minority, who fear restrictions on civil rights and worry that the Brotherhood shows similar domineering tendencies to Mr Mubarak.
Prominent Brotherhood figure Essam el-Erian said today: "I think we are on the verge of a new era. We trusted God, we trusted in the people, we trusted in our party."
Across the country, election workers cracked open the transparent ballot boxes - sealed by serial-numbered plastic bands - and began working their way through the paper ballots.
Reports of voting violations seemed relatively limited. The Egyptian Association for Supporting Democratic Development reported fist-fights between rival supporters and some incidents of money being given to voters.
It also reported some attempts to influence voters at the polls, including women wearing the all-covering veil campaigning for Mr Morsi inside polling centres.