What is going to happen at the polls today and what is the legal position if no one single party holds more than 326 out of 650 seats in the House of Commons and therefore cannot form a government?

The likely predictions are that we are to have another hung parliament.

The legal and constitutional position is that during the election campaign, all the government ministers remain in office. This includes both David Cameron and Nick Clegg.

Indeed if the Tories do not secure an overall majority and David Cameron opted to resign, Nick Clegg would still remain in office until advice is given to the Queen as to who should form the next government.

Who forms the new government and who goes first in trying to form a government in the event of a hung parliament?

As Prime Minister, Mr Cameron can try to do this first even if he does not have the biggest party. Negotiations between the parties will commence shortly after the election. If Mr Cameron cannot secure enough support to be able to command the confidence of the House of Commons then he will have no choice but to resign.

The first choice is to seek a coalition as was done in 2010. However this does not have to be a formal coalition arrangement. It can be what is commonly termed securing enough votes of “confidence and supply”.

“Confidence” refers to the smaller party promising to support the government in any vote of no confidence called by other parties whilst “supply” means that the party will help the government to pass its budget.

In practice this means that a minority government doesn’t have to constantly worry about whether it is going to be voted out of office.

In return it will need to co-operate with other parties in drafting every Bill that it wants to put before parliament.

In 1974, Ted Heath remained in office for a few days while he tried to form a coalition. At the weekend it was clear that he could not. Harold Wilson formed a government but could not survive for long and a second General Election had to be held that year.

The big difference this time is the Fixed Term Parliaments Act. This was passed to avoid the need for an election after a Government lost a confidence vote. It sets the date of the next General Election after this one as May 7, 2020.

There are however two ways of bringing this date forward. An early election must be held if at least 434 MPs support a motion supporting it or if a formal motion of no confidence in the government is passed and no motion of confidence in any alternative government is passed within the following 14 days.

In the run-up to the election several party leaders have ruled out joining coalitions and others have insisted on red lines that cannot be crossed.

There are a myriad of possible combinations.

After a 2013 election, Belgium continued without a government for 541 days and the sky did not fall in.