President Donald Trump on Wednesday falsely claimed that he had won the US election with millions of votes still uncounted after his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, said he was confident of winning a contest that will not be resolved until a handful of states complete vote-counting over the next hours or days.

"Frankly, we did win this election," Trump said after claiming he was winning several battleground states where votes were still being tallied.

"This is a fraud on the American public," Trump said without providing any evidence to support the claim. Election laws in all US states require all votes to be counted. More votes still stood to be counted this year than in the past as people voted early by mail and in person in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

- Reuters