The UK has created shockwaves around the world after it decided to leave the European Union in Thursday's referendum.
The Leave side had 52 per cent of the vote against 48 per cent for the Remain camp in a poll with a 72 per cent turnout.
Earlier this morning, David Cameron announced he would step down as Prime Minister by the autumn, saying he is not the man to lead the country into negotiations with other EU leaders.
Speaking outside Downing Street, a clearly emotional Cameron said he would stay on as Prime Minister until the Tory party conference in October when a new leader would be elected.
Only then, said Cameron, would formal negotiations start on Britain exiting the EU.
He also said there would be "no immediate change" to British people who currently live in Europe or for EU citizens living in the UK.
With turmoil and shock still sinking in, there was speculation that Boris Johnson, or Michael Gove, leading Leave campaigners, could be in line to become the next Prime Minister, and that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who campaigned for the Remain side, could also quit along with George Osborne, the country's finance minister.
"Historic"
UKIP’s Nigel Farage was also being tipped for a big role in a post-referendum government, called the vote "historic."
Speaking outside Westminster on Friday, a beaming Farage said, "The sun has today risen on a new, independent Britain."
Senior Leave campaigners, including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, released a letter late Thursday calling on David Cameron to stay on as Prime Minister irrespective of the result.
The UK remains a member of the EU until it has negotiated its exit, which could take up to two years.
The pound plunged to its lowest levels for many years and the result immediately triggered demands by extreme right leaders Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders for similar referendums in France and the Netherlands respectively.
Scotland was the only "region" in the UK to completely vote to remain and the result has sparked new calls for an independence referendum there.
International reaction
Reaction was swift, with former Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt saying, "I would classify this as a nightmare. We are headed for immediate turmoil and long term uncertainty."
In a statement on Friday morning, European Council President Donald Tusk described the result as "historic", but insisted it was "not the time for a hysterical reaction."
Tusk, speaking at a news conference in Brussels, said he had spoken to each of the 27 EU leaders about the result, adding, "I want to reassure everyone that we were prepared for this negative outcome.
"The EU is not a fair weather project and we are determined to keep our unity. It is the framework for our future and there will be no legal vacuum until the UK formally leaves. EU law will continue to apply to and within the EU."
Tusk said the result meant there was a need for a "widespread reflection on the future of the EU."
The former Polish PM added, "The past few years have been the most difficulty ones in the history of the EU but this is not the time for a hysterical reaction."
Slap in the face for EU?
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said the vote was a "slap in the face" for the EU project.
French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said, "I feel sad for the UK but Europe continues."
The Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said it did not mean the end of the EU and that the UK should leave "quickly and rationally."
UK foreign secretary Phillip Hammond predicted that Britain will now have less influence around the world. He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "would feel under less pressure today."
EPP group leader in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber, a senior German MEP and a close ally of Angela Merkel, warned that Britain would receive "no special treatment" and must leave the EU within two years.
He wrote in four tweets: "We respect and regret the decision of the British voters. It causes major damage to both sides.
"This was a British vote, not a European vote. Cooperation within Europe is a question of self-assertion of the continent.
"We want a better and smarter Europe. We have to convince the people and bring Europe back to them.
"Exit negotiations should be concluded within two years at max. There cannot be any special treatment. Leave means leave."
Proud to be British
But Eurosceptic UK MEP Dan Hannan, who campaigned for a Leave, said, "I feel very proud to be British today."
Fellow Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman, speaking ahead of Cameron's resignation, argued for him to "stay on as leader".
"I don't see any reason why he (David Cameron) should step down. My own view is that he should stay and go forward to start the negotiations.
"He's got some form on this, he's got a lot of practice. I did joke with his advisors in Brussels that if it did come to this, he would actually have a head start because he's done it before.
"David Cameron delivered this referendum, he did the right thing, I don't see it as a verdict on him personally and we're not after his blood - I'm certainly not. I'd like to see some stability and see him take things forward but ensure we do negotiate with seriousness now.
"I'm so grateful to the British people for stranding up to all the scaremongering and the threats and the blackmail ... and just showing good British grit and common sense.
"This is an extraordinary result, it really was David vs Goliath stuff and David has won."
UKIP MEP Ray Finch told CNN, "The vote for Leave would have been bigger but for the scare stories put about by the Remain side."
Leaving will not be easy
Gus O'Donnell, UK government cabinet secretary from 2005 to 2011, said, "Leaving will not be easy - the rules were not designed to make it easy for country to leave."
The Irish government said the result will have "significant implications."
The co-Chairs of the European Green Party, Monica Frassoni and and Reinhard Bütikofer, said, "Today Europe is more divided and less colourful: the majority of UK citizens decided to divide their future from that of the rest of the EU.
"This is a sovereign decision of a majority of the British people. However, we cannot go on with business as usual.
"Today more than ever we need to 'reset' the EU and together make it able to deliver credible solutions, notably to those facing a persistent economic uncertainty and a growing sense of insecurity. Solutions which aim at empowering citizens and at making democracy at EU level work; at realising the Green transition of economy and labour but also at responding to the desperate needs of people escaping from wars and misery.
"The decision of the UK voters indicate that our common house is shaky and that many prefer to leave it. Still, the disaggregation of the EU is not at all inevitable."
Nearest thing to a revolution since 1642
Freddie Sayers, editor in chief of YouGov, said, "This is the nearest thing we have had to a revolution since 1642."
John McDonnell MP, British Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, said, "People will be waking up this morning to turmoil in the markets and the pound crashing, and fearing the emergency budget the Chancellor threatened to hike their taxes and cut public services.
"The Government must now take steps to stabilise the economy, and to protect jobs, pensions and wages. Labour will not allow any instability to be paid for by the working people of this country."