Hungarians go to the polls on Sunday in a vote that could bring down long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and have significant repercussions for the rest of Europe, the US and Russia.
Most polls favour Péter Magyar, who formed a grassroots party after splitting from the ruling Fidesz party, but the night before the vote Orbán was in defiant mood.
"We are going to achieve such a victory that will surprise everyone, perhaps even ourselves," he told several thousand supporters in a small square on Budapest's Castle Hill.
Voting takes place from 06:00-19:00 (04:00-17:00 GMT) and results will start to come through during the evening.
Orbán turned tensions up a notch ahead of the vote, claiming the opposition would "stop at nothing to seize power", and Magyar responded by appealing to voters not to give in to "Fidesz pressure and blackmail".
