It is expected that by tonight, all 250,000 copies of JK Rowling's book on sale around the country will have been sold. "This is the fastest selling book Eason's in Ireland has ever sold, " said the store's spokeswoman, Maura Howe.

"This is a record-breaking book. In our stores, we have been selling 1,000 books every 30 minutes. In horrendous rain they queued. We have never seen anything like it."

Among those braving the elements into the early hours yesterday were Ella Hopkins (13), who queued for two hours at Eason's Dundrum with her friends Emma Garland (13) and Fiona Duggan (14).

After five chapters and six hours' solid reading, the excitement was growing by the page: "It's really dramatic, " she said. "Voldemort is trying to get to Harry at every turn.

It's fraught with danger and the stakes are very high. I have to stop myself flicking on to page 607 to read the ending. I can't wait to know."

Lisa Keogh (21) and her father Gerry from Co Meath were queuing outside Eason's on Dublin's O'Connell Street since 11.45am on Friday and had reached fever pitch by midnight. "I just can't wait, " said Lisa, adding, "I've no idea what I'll do when it's all over, go into mourning I suppose." For Megan Carney and Amy Wheeler, both aged 12 and from Greystones, the decision was clearcut. "If Ron dies, that would be the worst thing ever. We'll cry so much."

Lorcan Stewart (20) from Dublin and his 18-year-old friend from Australia, Alistair Pattinson, were not ashamed to admit they had cried at the end of the penultimate Harry Potter. "When Dumbledore died, it was actually really sad, " said Stewart. "A few tears leaked out then. This one is going to be a bloodbath by all accounts but I'm ready for it this time."

Sixteen-year-old friends David Lowry and Conor Doherty were getting some funny looks from the queuing crowd: they were the image of Harry and Ron . . . without even dressing up. "People say it to us all the time, it's really funny, " said Lowry. "The movies will be around for a while after the book is over, so that's something, but it's not really the same."

Nineteen-year-old Emer Woods from Dublin read the leaked ending online and already knew what everyone else in the queue didn't want to hear . . . Harry Potter's fate. "I just couldn't help myself, " she said ruefully. Asked somewhat cautiously about her opinion of the ending, she shrugged diplomatically. "It's good."

Outside bookstores, many sat on cushions refreshing their memories with previous Potter books. Others perched on folding chairs and drank from steaming flasks of tea.

The devotees discussed the multiple possible endings, all the while shunning those who had cheated by discovering the ending online. It was groups of young adults rather than children that dominated the throngs, many commenting that the final book symbolised the end of an obsession that began in childhood when the first instalment was published in 1997.

Pottermania was by no means exclusive to Ireland.

An Australian fan had to be rescued from a lake in the capital Canberra on Friday after he dived in to rescue a prepurchase receipt necessary to purchase the book.

Despite pleas from the author, many spoilers appeared on the internet days before the book's official worldwide release at one minute past midnight on Friday.

In France, the daily newspaper Le Parisien revealed how the final instalment ends, in a small article which it printed upside down. The book's French publishing house, Gallimard Jeunesse, condemned this revelation.

Emblazoned on a banner outside a bookstore in Los Angeles was the legend: 'There has never been anything quite like it, and nobody knows whether there ever will be again.' And at the Barnes & Noble store in Union Square in Manhattan, New York, lines snaked around the block as police officers ordered fans off the street.

Downtown in SoHo at the McNally Robinson bookstore, an adults-only group swilled "magic punch." And at the Borders at Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle, fans who had been given numbered wristbands earlier in the day thronged around the front of the store at midnight.

"Are we ready for Harry Potter?" yelled the manager.

"Yeah!" the crowd screamed back.

Tel Aviv's Steimatzky bookstore opened at 2am local time, defying criticism from orthodox Jewish lawmakers for opening on the Sabbath, when the law requires most businesses in Israel to close. In India, stores were opening at dawn for special Harry Potter parties.

Magicians, face painters and characters from the books mingled with the crowds at Waterstone's in London's Piccadilly, entertaining the lines of excited fans, many of whom were attired in full wizard costume.

Author JK Rowling, unknown ten years ago when the first of the series appeared, is now Britain's richest woman. She gave a midnight reading from the book to 500 competition-winning children in the grand surroundings of London's Natural History Museum.