Watch: May or Corbyn – Who really came out on top in the Battle for Number 10?

It is, however, true that Theresa May is getting worse in high-pressure interview situations as the election campaign deepens and Jeremy Corbyn keeps getting better (that was until he tussled with Women’s Hour when he struggled to remember the cost of his free child care pledge).

On the night Corbyn was the winner – but it was only on points. And although he might have won the battle, the war is very much still up for grabs.

Corbyn was tweeted about more than double the number of times Theresa May was during the Channel 4/Sky News election programme last night, according to data from Twitter.

There were 239,700 tweets sent about Corbyn – compared with 107,800 for the Prime Minister – over the 90-minute period, during which the pair were questioned by a studio audience and Jeremy Paxman.

However, May’s portion of the programme triggered the biggest spikes in activity online. A peak at 9.39pm saw viewers send 188 tweets per second or 11,300 per minute, as questions to the PM from the audience came to an end.

The second highest peak was at 9.59pm as the programme ended with Jeremy Paxman’s interview with the PM.

Around 11,130 tweets were sent per minute as she told the presenter: ‘What I’ll be doing is being a difficult woman and ensuring that we’re negotiating hard.’

The most popular tweet sent during the interviews by far came from SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, who said: ‘It has become painfully clear in last half hour why the PM is dodging leaders’ debates in this election.’

Her assessment garnered more than 9,000 retweets.

Tim Farron has given his verdict on last night’s debate – both May and Corbyn were ‘losers’.

Lib Dem leader Farron said the encounter, in which the Prime Minister and Corbyn were quizzed separately, showed the choice between Tory and Labour was one of ‘meanness or fantasy’.

Insisting neither of the two major party leaders had won the television event, and both were ‘losers’ at the end of it, Farron said: ‘Theresa May’s complacency in where she stands in this election was so obvious in her failure to have any answers on what happens next for our country.

‘Those worried about the dementia tax will be even more worried than they were to start off with.’