Barack Obama will be inaugurated as the first-ever black US president on Tuesday in a historic ceremony in Washington DC.

|PIC1|Obama, 47, is the son of a black Kenyan father and a white mother from Kansas. He will take the oath of office at 12pm EST (5pm GMT) on the steps of the US Capitol.

History will be made when Mr Obama places his hand on the same Bible used by Abraham Lincoln at his first inauguration in 1861 and takes his oath.

More than a million people are expected to gather at the inauguration site and the national mall for the inauguration. Hundreds of thousands have been arriving hours early, braving sub-zero conditions, to ensure they save their place at the historic event.

Reports said that even at 5am trains into Washington were packed to capacity, and many even camped out at the site to make sure they were among the first to pass through the security checkpoints.

Thousands of security personnel were drafted into the Washington area to maintain order and guard against any attempts to interrupt the inauguration.

|PIC2|The public hope surrounding Mr Obama’s inauguration hit fever point this week, and never in the history of the US has a president been received with such overwhelming public confidence. A Gallup poll recently found that there was a 78 per cent approval rate for the new president.

However, the new president will know all too well the challenge that awaits him. The 44th US president is taking the reigns at a time when the country is experiencing its worst economic crisis in 70 years, as well as a host of pressing international issues.

At the event Mr Obama will deliver a rallying inauguration address and will urge a spirit of unity across the nation to overcome the difficult times ahead.

Recently he warned Americans that they should expect even tougher economic times and that his plan to revive the struggling economy will take time to work.

Mr Obama and his wife, Michelle, attended a church service on Tuesday morning at St. John's Episcopal Church. They will then join George Bush for coffee at the White House before the official handover and event begins.

At the inauguration Mr Obama will repeat a short oath, pledging he to "faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States".