NORAD Santa tracker 2024 LIVE: Real-time location updates as Father Christmas delivers presents to kids across the globe

Santa has just finished delivering gifts to children in New Caledonia, to the east of Australia.

He's now headed for Vanautu. There are lots of small island groups in this area - keep an eye out for the Solomon Islands coming up soon too.

Santa's heading north again as he continues his trip around the world.

He's currently on his way to Fiji, where it's around 00:15am.

Santa is approaching Antarctica where he'll be paying a visit to all the hard-working scientists away from their families for research this Christmas.

After that, he'll turn back north and continue delivering in warmer temperatures again.

He'll be back in Queenstown, New Zealand in just over five minutes.

Santa is now heading south all the way down to Antarctica, where he'll be delivering some very special gifts.

He's visiting the Mcmurdo research station, operated by the United States.

He'll arrive in about ten minutes.

Santa Claus has touched down in New Zealand just moments ago.

He started by delivering presents to children in Auckland, and he'll later visit Wellington beforwe heading back up north.

We just caught sight of Santa visiting the island of Samoa, as he continues his journey south towards New Zealand.

He is now on his way past Tonga and has delivered more than 250 million gifts.

As Santa's sleigh passed over island of Nauru a minute ago, Norad's satellites gave us an excellent overhead shot which showed Rudolph leading the reindeer through the darkness of the night.

His bright red nose was easily visible, meaning Santa will have no problem finding his way tonight.

Santa's now left Russia - for now - and is still heading southn on a course that will eventually take him to Australial and New Zealand.

His next stop is Majuro, in the Marshall Islands.

Santa is currently heading south towards the village of Esso in eastern Russia.

He's scheduled to arrive in around five minutes.

There have been good flying conditions so far with no weather or travel delays, so it's so far, so good.

As Santa heads towards Magadan, also in eastern Russia, he has already delivered a huge 62 million presents.

There's no rest for him and no let-up in his demanding schedule.

But don't worry - he's had plenty of practice.

Santa's first stop will be Uelen in Russia.

He's currently on his way there and will be leaving presents in children's stockings, shoes and all other items depending on the local tradition.

Here's our first look at Santa on his way around the globe as he brings festive cheer and happiness to every child in the world.

He's currently still over the North Pole, but ahs already delivered some gifts on the way.

Santa has just taken off from his home in the North Pole.

He's going to be delivering presents to 2.4 billion children in just 24 hours.

It's a huge task, but we'll be with him every step of the way. We'll bring you his first stop-off shortly.

We've just heard from our elf sources in the North Pole that Santa is now getting ready for take-off.

Stay tuned for all the latest updates...

After weeks of waiting, meeting thousands of chilren and overseeing the production of billions of gifts, Santa must be getting excited for his big moment.

It may take 364 days of preparation, but his dedication to his craft is nothing short of a masterpiece.

Norad's latest update is that Santa will take off within the next hour.

His final preparations are almost complete, and the world's satellites are ready to update us the whole way.

Once Santa sets out on his journey, we'll get live updates about where he is, what country he's flying over and what time it is.

There's even a special onboard camera so we can watch his progress live.

Here's a few snaps from last year's journey.

Santa's job is always a hard one, and this year is no different.

According to children's charity Univef's latest estimate, there are more than 2.4 billion children under 18 in the world.

That's a whole lot of presents!

Norad's satellites and radar technology are now all ready to track Santa as he delivers billions of presents in just one day today.

We're now just waiting on the big man himself to give the go-ahead - and then we'll be letting you know where he is throughout the day,

Here he is getting ready!

As well as following our Santa tracker here, any children wishing to find out how his journey is going can call Norad themselves.

There are 1,000 of Santa's helpers ready and waiting to update them on his progress.

Norad's Santa tracker is a 70-year tradition that began when a child accidentally phoned a top secret US military base at the height of the Cold War and asked to speak to Santa.

The command's director of operations Colonel Harry Shoup answered the call. On the other end was a child's voice asking: 'Is this Santa Claus?'

After the initial phone call in 1955, it became clear a department store had accidentally printed the wrong number on an advert telling children to phone Santa.

With the phones ringing off the hook, staff were instructed to answer them as Santa Claus so as not to disappoint the children - and the Santa tracker began,

Sant's elves have told us (and NORAD) that he is just making final preparations for his journey ahead of setting off from the North Pole.

The final presents are being loaded onto his sleigh and he'll be heading off as soon as all the safety checks are complete.

After a rocky few weeks of weather in the UK and around the world, there's good news early this Christmas Eve.

Weather conditions are said to be good for flying, meaning there are no anticipated delays to Santa's trip.

In the control room, everything seems to be under control - with Santa getting some helpful route assistance from the US.

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline's 2024 Santa tracker! We'll be bringing you all the live updates as he jets around the world today, helped by his team of trusty reindeer.