But even an hour into the count, some of their supporters had already accepted that it was not going to be their day.

“I’m not disappointed, I knew he was unlikely to win,” one of Ko’s supporters, a 45-year-old named Huang, said.

The Taipei resident who works in the logistics industry had brought his daughter along with him to mingle with the crowds rallying outside Ko’s campaign office to watch the results coming in and it was already clear that their candidate was trailing in third place in line with the pre-election opinion polls.

“The votes Ko got are already way more than I expected given his manpower and resources available as a third-party candidate,” Huang said.

“Not every vote has to be about picking the winning candidate. I want my vote to reflect that I am unhappy with both big parties and to show Ko and other people who want to participate in politics that there is support for a third voice.”

The more than 19½ million voters were able to cast three ballots in total: one for the president, and two for the legislature – one for each constituency and the other for a party list.

With a legal voting age of 20, this year’s election meant that there were more than a million first-time voters.

The election took place amid warm and sunny weather in most parts of Taiwan, helping to ensure a healthy turnout of above 70 per cent even though voters have to travel to the place they were first registered as residents to vote.

Not only does this mean that many people have to return to their hometowns from the main cities but overseas residents also have to return to the island to cast their ballots.

The Taiwanese immigration authorities said more than 48,000 people had travelled to the island from mainland China in a seven-day period ending on Thursday, 10,000 of whom had arrived on that day.

On eve of Taiwan election, PLA warns it’s ready to ‘crush’ separatism

But some voters faced last-minute disruptions that left them in danger of missing out. A scheduled military flight from Quemoy – an island also known as Kinmen that lies about 10km (6 miles) from the mainland – was grounded by the defence ministry. It said that the last-minute cancellation was because troops needed to be shifted to other duties for reasons of “combat readiness”.

The decision affected around 60 to 70 people on the island – a traditional stronghold of the mainland-friendly KMT, according to Taiwan’s TTV News. As of 2pm around 25 people were still waiting for flights, its report added.

One keen observer was a 30-year-old Hongkonger named Leung, who had travelled to Taipei to witness the election first hand.

“Taiwan is one of the most democratic places in the whole of Asia, and Hong Kong does not hold this kind of election anyway so this is especially interesting for me,” he said.

“The fate of mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are closely linked, so it’s important to learn about what lies ahead for Taiwan too.”