President Donald Trump has denied he plans to execute a "red mirage" strategy on election night, where he declares himself the winner early and sets up a potential Supreme Court battle.
The red mirage entails Mr Trump declaring victory before midnight if he finds himself ahead in a clutch of key battleground states.
A report by Axios, which Mr Trump has rejected as false, claims the president's team have been discussing the plan for weeks.
The story was based on three sources familiar with the discussions, Axios claimed.
For red mirage to occur, Mr Trump would need to either win or have commanding leads in Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Iowa, Arizona and Georgia.
But it will all be about Pennsylvania, Professor Wesley Widmaier, an international affairs expert at Australian National University, said.
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"Pennsylvania is the keystone here, no pun intended," Professor Widmaier told nine.com.au, referring to the state's nickname.
Professor Widmaier said Mr Trump could "plausibly tip" the handful of key states that would set up Pennsylvania as a potential trigger point.
"Then they'll know they just have to take that risky strategy in Pennsylvania," he explained.
According to Axois, Mr Trump's team is preparing to falsely claim that mail-in ballots counted after November 3 are evidence of election fraud and a stolen election.
Speaking to reporters to deny the story, Mr Trump added it was a "terrible thing when ballots can be collected after an election".
A former Obama staffer this week said the red mirage strategy sounded like a "super villain" and would be just as "insidious" if used.
Professor Widmaier said if Mr Trump did go early, it could be part of a public relations strategy that declared his presidency as "a social fact".
That claim could then ostensibly lead to the US Supreme Court, just like George W. Bush and Al Gore's infamous ballot dispute in the 2000 US election.
Mr Gore lost Florida and the 2000 presidential election by 537 out of a total of almost six million votes.
In his ruling, Justice Antonin Scalia stated that continuing to recount the votes risked illegitimising Mr Bush's presidency.
Key times (AEDT) to watch for during the US election:
11am - Most of Florida closes, and Georgia closes too.
12 noon - all of Florida closes. Watch for results in the Panhandle. If there is a swing back to Biden, this could be a big indicator.
2pm - pretty much all other important states will have closed and counting will begin.
Some states, such as Florida and Ohio, allow this process to start weeks before election day, so the votes are ready to be counted.
Other states, such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, don't allow early votes to be processed until polling day.
Those crucial counts could take days.
Contact: msaunoko@nine.com.au
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