General Election 2015: Nicola Sturgeon says Britain's political future now in 'hands of voters' as SNP anticipates best result in its history

After weeks of speeches, debates and campaigning which has brought the SNP to the brink of a landslide victory in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon said that the country’s political future was now in the “hands of voters”.

The First Minister, who is not standing for election at Westminster, made the remark as she cast her vote at Broomhouse Community Hall in Glasgow, where she was accompanied by her husband and SNP chief executive Peter Murrell.

Under her leadership, the nationalist party has exploited the public’s growing dissatisfaction with Labour in Scotland and is expecting the best result at a Westminster election in its history. Her party is also likely to benefit from the turnout in Scotland, which is expected to be significantly higher than the rest of the UK.

Although voter numbers will not match the levels seen during last year's independence referendum – which hit 85 per cent – turnout for the general election was forecast to be 75 per cent.

However, the day was marred by allegations of intimidation outside a polling station in Annan, in Dumfries and Galloway, the constituency where Scotland’s only Conservative MP David Mundell is hoping for re-election.

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson informed her Twitter followers that she had heard “disturbing reports” of people being turned away from the polling station by “burly blokes if they say they don’t support a certain party”.

Although she did not specify which party the voters were being pressured to support, her comments were widely interpreted as a reference to the SNP. A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said later that two members of the public had complained of “a situation” outside Newington Sports and Leisure Polling Station in Annan.

A local police spokesman told The Independent that officers had visited the polling station to investigate the reports, but added: “There doesn’t seem to be anything in it.” A Police Scotland spokesman said only that officers were “looking into the matter”.

Meanwhile, the former SNP leader Alex Salmond said his party’s “tails are up across the country” as he cast his vote in Ellon, in the Gordon constituency where he is standing. If elected, he is likely to play a key role in any negotiations his party has with Labour after the election.

With polls in England and Wales still pointing to an effective stalemate between Labour and the Tories, and with the Liberal Democrats expected to do marginally better than forecast a month ago due to late decisions by undecided voters, Scotland’s election outcome is more predictable than the rest of the country.

The SNP are likely to emerge with close to 50 MPs when all results are declared, but the Scottish Labour leader, Jim Murphy, is still clinging to the hope that his efforts will aid Ed Miliband’s chances of reaching Number 10.

Mr Murphy, who cast his vote early in Clarkston in his East Renfrewshire constituency, repeated the mantra his party has used throughout its campaign, saying: “If Scotland votes Labour we will get a Labour government.”

Douglas Alexander, Labour’s former shadow Foreign Secretary, was also facing a nervous night amid predictions that he may lose his Paisley and Renfrewshire South seat to his 20-year-old SNP opponent Mhairi Black, who stands to become Westminster’s youngest ever MP. As he cast his vote, Mr Alexander insisted that a Labour government was “within touching distance”.

Tactical voting against the SNP may save the skins of key Liberal Democrats in Scotland, but the leader of the Scottish Greens, Patrick Harvie, urged people to “vote for what they believe rather than what they regard as the least worst option”.