So now we know. Time to shift next door and hear what the winners and jury have to say. Thanks for reading!

Kechiche and his two actresses shoot up to the stage, hugging and sobbing. The Past can console themselves with Best Actress, but Kechiche is a very popular winner.

Getting close. A titanic struggle awaits, between The Past and Blue. Tautou blasts the gamine-o-meter to shreds.

Escalante a bit subdued on the podium. At least he's taken off the shades from earlier, he's no Wong Kar-wai.

Jia signs off with a slightly scared sounding "Merci beaucoup." Possibly Asia giving him the jitters.

Bejo looked pretty stunned. Semi-pandemonium in press bunker. Bejo practically in tears at the mike. Farhadi smiling magisterially in the cheap seats. Apparently she had an "amazing journey on this movie". But let's be kind, she's in bit of a state.

I had a very surreal couple of minutes after interviewing Dern on video a couple of days back. He was totally obsessed with Chelsea, and wanted to talk about Wigan getting relegated. Why ask why?

Spielberg reads out a speech. He sounds like he had a nice time for the last week and a half.

Now the jury gets a run-out on the stage, led by Steven Spielberg. They pop out from behind the stage flats one by one. Christoph Waltz gets a big cheer.

Camera d'Or goes to Ilo Ilo from Singapore!

Tautou now off the gamine-o-meter as she introduces Jane Campion and Mads Mikkelsen. Handsome, handsome Mads. Time for the short film award.

Things have now started! Audrey Tautou, in some kind of non-shiny red dress, is on the mike. Gets a round of applause for a gag about stolen jewellery. Maybe a new career as a stand-up if the acting doesn't work out?

Peter hopping on The Past bandwagon too – surely it's a lock.

Kubrick-style reverse tracking shot as Zulu director Jérôme Salle looks for his seat in the cinema, and gets a nice clap.

Slightly dull interlude as the bigshots involved in Zulu make their way up the steps. Closing film and not in competition, so of little interest to us.

Somebody else I'm fairly sure knows what they're talking about: Variety's Justin Chang. Another swerve in the direction of The Past?

Dave Calhoun, Time Out's very smart film editor, is tipping Asghar Farhardi's The Past.

My God, it's Orlando Bloom - very dapper in a white bow tie. He is in the closing film Zulu, which I'm afraid none of us saw. Rather idiotically the only press screening was scheduled at exactly the same time as the Roman Polanski press conference. Tough choice, Roman won. Bloom says Zulu "worked". You heard it here first.

Now it's Abdellatif Kechiche's turn, striding up the red carpet in a five-abreast formation with his actors and producers. He has the air of a man who is quietly confident, for sure.

Thurman still swanking around for the photographers. She's wearing some kind of shiny dress. Hope the fashionistas out there are paying careful attention to my insightful analysis.

Things now getting pretty tasty. Some guy in shades who turns out to be Amat Escalante, director of Mexican film Heli, yacking to camera. Press bunker has suddenly filled up even more. Uma Thurman on the red carpet goes for safety: "This is the best film festival in the world!" That told 'em.

Inside dope from Peter:

Right, let's get down to business. A whole bunch of warm-up awards, official and unofficial, have been sprinkled over the line-up in the last day or two: here's the list. Probably the most telling is the Fipresci award (that's the International Federation of Film Critics) for the best film in competition, and it's gone to... Blue is the Warmest Colour. More often than not they agree with the Palme, so its chances are looking very good...

Un Certain Regard

Prize of Un Certain Regard
The Missing Picture dir: Rithy Panh

Special Jury Prize
Omar dir: Hany Abu-Assad

Best First Film
Fruitvale Station dir: Ryan Coogler

Best Director
Alain Guiraudie for Stranger by the Lake

A Certain Talent
Diego Quemada-Diez for The Golden Cage

Directors' Fortnight

Art Cinema Award
Me, Myself and Mum dir: Guillaume Gallienne

Prix SACD
Me, Myself and Mum dir: Guillaume Gallienne

Europa Cinemas
The Selfish Giant dir: Clio Barnard

Premier Prix Illy for Short Filmmaking
A Wild Goose Chase dir: Joao Nicolau
Special Mention: About a Month dir: Andre Novais Oliveira

FIPRESCI Prize

In Competition
Blue Is the Warmest Colour dir: Abdellatif Kechiche

Un Certain Regard
Manuscripts Don't Burn dir: Mohammad Rasoulof

Directors' Fortnight/Critics' Week
Blue Ruin dir: Jeremy Saulnier

Ecumenical Jury

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
The Past dir: Asghar Farhadi
Commendations: Miele dir: Valeria Golino and Like Father, Like Son dir: Hirokazu Koreeda

Queer Palm

Stranger dir: the Lake dir: Alain Guiraudie

Palm Dog

Baby Boy in Behind the Candelabra

The sky is blue, the air is golden, and here in Cannes, the film festival begins its dying fall. In a few minutes time, the great and good of the international film industry, tuxed and befrocked, jewelled and tanned, will be squeezing into the Grand Theatre Lumiere for the end-of-session prizegiving.

Not that I can see the blue sky or golden air; I'm wedged in the corner of the press bunker in the bowels of the Festival Palais, keeping an eye on things over the sea of bobbing heads packed in here. So who needs the beautiful people, when you've got a giant video screen and barely enough oxygen to survive? Not this crack reporter, no sir.

So to the big one: who'll win the Palme d'Or? Have a look at an entertainingly shattered group of Guardian critics discussing this very question; opinion seems to solidifying behind Blue Is the Warmest Colour, from Tunisian-born director Abdellatif Kechiche. Here's a few more predictions from our critic Peter Bradshaw, who's been the most assiduous of the team in investigating the competition entries.

Palme d'Or: Blue is the Warmest Colour dir: Abdellatif Kechiche

Grand Prix: Inside Llewyn Davis dirs: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Best director: Paolo Sorrentino for La Grande Bellezza

Jury prize: A Touch of Sin dir: Jia Zhang-ke

Best screenplay: The Past dir: Asghar Farhadi

Best actor: Michael Douglas for Behind the Candelabra dir: Steven Soderbergh

Best actress: Léa Seydoux and Aèele Exharchopoulos jointly for Blue is the Warmest Colour

Camera d'Or (best first film): The Golden Cage dir: Diego Quemada-Diez

Not long now to see if he's right.