Labour and the Conservatives have achieved an equal numbers of seats in the new Greater London Assembly.

The Tories had taken an early lead in the race for control of the new authority by winning eight constituency seats to Labour's six at the end of first-past-the-post declarations.

But in the top up seats, Labour fared better, winning a further three positions while the Tories took only one.

It was the Liberal Democrats and the Greens who benefited the most from the top up system.

The Lib Dems have four seats in the authority while the Greens have three.

Among those winning top up seats were Labour's Trevor Phillips and the Green Party's mayoral candidate Darren Johnson.

The final result did not emerge until after noon on Friday after delays caused by the electronic counting machines breaking down.

Labour Party candidate Toby Harris entered the history books as the first member elected to the GLA in Brent and Harrow, the first constituency seat of the 25-member assembly to be declared.

In the North East constituency, which includes Islington and Hackney, Labour's Meg Hillier gained her assembly seat with a crushing defeat of the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.

And, in Greenwich and Lewisham Labour's Len Duvall easily saw off challenges from the Tories and Liberal Democrats polling 40,386 votes compared to 22,401 and 16,290 respectively for the two main challengers.

But in Croydon and Sutton, the Tories took their first assembly seat when Andrew Pelling polled 48,421 votes - almost 18,000 more than the Lib Dem candidate Anne Gallop.

Later in Merton and Wandsworth, the Tories hit back again when their candidate Elizabeth Howlett beat off the opposition.

Labour, as expected, won its south London heartland constituency Lambeth while the Tories took Havering and Redbridge on the north east fringe of the greater London area.

Enfield and Haringey also declared as returning a Labour assembly member.

West Central, which includes Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster, and Barnet and Camden, have both fallen to the Tories.

The Tories snatched the southern constituency of Bexley and Bromley - a true blue heartland - and Ealing and Hillingdon to the West.

Labour secured City and the East and the final South West constituency, which includes Kingston and Richmond upon Thames, fell to the Tories at 1100 BST.

The GLA top up members were then announced to be the Conservative's Eric Ollerenshaw, Labour's Trevor Phillips, Labour's Samantha Heath and Labour's David Lammy.

Baroness Sally Hamwee also became a GLA member for the Lib Dems along with Graham Tope, Lynne Featherstone and Louise Bloom.

The Green Party's assembly members are Darren Johnson, Victor Anderson and Jenny Jones.