Less than two months before Election Day, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will face off in their first debate on Tuesday.

The race between the Republican ex-president and the Democratic vice president remains neck and neck, both nationally and in the swing states.

The prime-time ABC News showdown will be their first meeting and only the second time they’ve shared a room.

It is not the first debate in the election campaign. Trump already faced Joe Biden on stage in June, a few weeks before the latter dropped out of the race.

The debate begins on Tuesday, September 10, at 9:00 p.m. EDT (01:00 GMT).

The event will be broadcast live on US broadcaster ABC from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The event lasts 90 minutes with two commercial breaks. There will be no audience in the hall.

It will be streamed live on the BBC News channel and on the BBC News website and app via our live page.

The BBC will have a team of reporters in Philadelphia and Washington providing analysis, fact-checking and reaction as part of our live coverage.

The anchors of ABC World News Tonight are David Muir and Linsey Davis.

You don’t have to worry about two candidates interrupting each other because the microphones are muted when one of them isn’t speaking.

These were the rules for the debate between Trump and Mr Biden earlier this year, following a disruptive debate between the two in 2020.

Harris hoped the microphones would be on the entire time because, according to her campaign team, the current format “shields Donald Trump from a direct exchange with the vice president.”

Trump will have the final say in the debate and Ms Harris has chosen to appear on the right side of the viewers’ television screen.

Candidates or their campaign teams are not given any topics or questions in advance, and no props or pre-written notes are allowed on stage.

Both candidates carry only a pen, a notepad and a water bottle and are not allowed to interact with the campaign team during the commercial breaks.

Neither of them is allowed to step away from their lectern – as Trump did to Hillary Clinton in 2016.

As the aftermath of Biden’s rocky performance in the debates that led to his abandonment of his candidacy shows, presidential debates are high-stakes milestones in the campaign that can reshape the outcome of the race.

This is a unique opportunity for candidates to make a good impression on voters, as clips go viral and soundbites are played over and over again.

This will be particularly important for Kamala Harris, who has so far largely limited her election campaign to planned appearances.

A new poll released Sunday by Siena College for the New York Times suggests that many voters have not yet figured out who she is and what she stands for.

The race between her and Trump remains extremely close both nationally and in the swing states that will decide the outcome.

According to the New York Times, Harris is working with Washington attorney Karen Dunn to prepare. Dunn has been helping Democratic politicians plan debates for nearly two decades.

Dunn, who frequently represents technology companies in court, takes a “tough love” approach, 2016 Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton told the newspaper.

“She’s not afraid to say, ‘This isn’t going to work’ … But she’s also encouraging,” Clinton said.

Philippe Reines, a former Clinton adviser who represented Trump in her mock debates, is reportedly set to take on that role again for Ms Harris.

Trump, on the other hand, according to US media, is dispensing with most of the classic debate preparation tactics.

The former president’s debate preparation is “like Donald Trump talking to voters,” ABC News quoted a campaign adviser as saying.

Notable advisers to the former president ahead of that debate include Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who clashed with Ms. Harris during the party’s 2020 primary debates, and Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz.

On October 1, rival vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz will participate in a single vice presidential debate on CBS News.

However, the presidential campaigners have not yet agreed on the terms for any future confrontations between Trump and Mrs Harris.

Trump has called for at least two more. He is particularly pushing for a debate on friendlier terrain – moderated by Fox News and with a large live audience.

The Harris team has announced that it will consider whether to hold a second debate after the two candidates’ first meeting in October.

The bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which has overseen these events since 1988, has been sidelined in favor of television networks that cover the election campaigns directly.

The CPD, which planned to organize three debates in September and October, accused the Biden campaign team of not adhering to tradition.