More than five million votes had been counted by 11.30am on Thursday, according to the latest results at the IEC's centre in Pretoria.

About one million votes had been processed each hour since 8.30am.

The African National Congress had 3 391 904 votes thus far, with the Democratic Alliance trailing with 978 049 votes, followed by the Congress of the People with 428 760 votes.

A total of 5 352 770 votes had thus far counted, or 23 percent of the 23 181 997 voters registered to take part in Wednesday's polls.

It was not yet known how many votes were cast.

The Inkatha Freedom Party was in fourth place with 140 734 votes, with the Independent Democrats following with 80 817 votes.

Trailing the list was the A Party with 858 votes nationally, preceded by Women Forward with 1217 votes.

Both parties are new on the South African political landscape, contesting elections for the first time in 2009.

Meanwhile, the Independent Electoral Commission finished meeting political parties at the Pretoria base. DA leader Helen Zille, party chief executive Ryan Coetzee as well as ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe had visited the centre at the Tshwane Show Grounds.