Hong Kong: Hong Kong's voters turned out in record numbers on Sunday for local council elections that the city's pro-democracy movement hopes will add pressure on the Beijing-backed government to heed their demands after months of violent protest.

Lengthy queues snaked out of polling stations across the territory in the election for 18 district councils, where high turnout is expected to benefit democratic forces. The Electoral Affairs Commission said a record 47.26 per cent of the 4.13 million citizens registered to vote had cast their ballots by late Sunday afternoon. It was already the highest turnout in Hong Kong's history of district council elections post handover, with several hours of voting still to go.