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Only a minority of councils counted overnight and most results will not be confirmed until later on Friday
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The polls for more than 8,000 council seats on 230 councils, and four mayors, across England closed on Thursday.
Early results in local elections in England have seen Labour and the Liberal Democrats gain council seats at the expense of the Conservatives.
Plymouth and Stoke-on-Trent were won by Labour, while the Lib Dems are hopeful of taking Windsor and Maidenhead.
The Conservatives lost their majorities in Tamworth, Bedford, Hertsmere and North West Leicestershire.
Only a minority of councils counted overnight and most results will not be confirmed until later on Friday
The polls for more than 8,000 council seats on 230 councils, and four mayors, across England closed on Thursday.
The vote is the first big test of Rishi Sunak's electoral popularity since he became prime minister.
Some people were unable to cast their vote due to new rules requiring voters to show photo ID, the Electoral Commission has confirmed.
The first gain of a council went to Labour, who took control in Plymouth, where no party previously had a majority.
In Brentwood, Essex, the Tories lost two seats to the Lib Dems, meaning the party no longer has a majority in the council chamber.
Among other early results, Labour retained Sefton and Exeter, while the Tories held on to Basildon and Redditch.
The last time these seats were up for election in 2019, the Conservative Party had its worst results in a generation in its traditional heartlands.
Results will continue to be declared throughout Friday, including three mayoral contests in Bedford, Leicester and Mansfield.
In Middlesbrough, Labour's Chris Cooke became mayor beating the incumbent candidate.
Conservatives have acknowledged disappointment at the early results but noted that only 25% of councils have declared results so far.
Labour says it is making progress in the areas it needs in order to win the next general election.
Discussing the result in Plymouth with the BBC, local Tory MP Johnny Mercer said it had been "a terrible night" for his party in the city.
Shabana Mahmood MP, Labour's national campaign co-ordinator, said the results showed Labour were "on course" to win a majority in the next government "Tonight has been a disaster for Rishi Sunak as voters punish him for the Tories' failure," she added.
Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey said it had been a "ground-breaking night" for his party adding: "We have delivered a hammer blow to the Conservative Party."
The Green Party is hoping to win outright control of its first council in Mid Suffolk. Party co-leader Carla Denyer said her party were benefitting from "a deep dislike of the Tories and Starmer's uninspiring Labour".
Ahead of Thursday's vote, the Conservative Party sought to manage expectations, with party chairman Greg Hands suggesting his party could lose 1,000 council seats.
Labour has enjoyed a significant lead in the opinion polls but has also been downplaying expectations, saying it expected to gain around 400 seats.
Most of the seats up for election were last contested in 2019, a tumultuous time for the two leading parties.
The Conservatives lost a total of 1,330 seats in mostly traditionally Tory-supporting areas. Labour lost 84 seats - just over 4% of its councillors in those areas.
The main beneficiaries were the Liberal Democrats and independent candidates.
Under new rules, people voting in these elections needed to show some form of ID.
The Electoral Commission, which oversees elections in the UK, said Thursday's election had been "well run" overall but some people had been unable to cast their vote and the impact of new voter ID rules needed to be evaluated.
The Electoral Reform Society, which opposed the change, said there had been "countless examples" of would-be voters being turned away from polling station because of the new rules.
The BBC has not been able to verify the number of voters turned away because of the new rules. But figures for this are expected to emerge in the coming days.
Most of the councils up for election in England are district councils, responsible for services including bin collections, parks, public housing and planning applications.
The rest of the councils being elected are a mixture of metropolitan and unitary councils - single local authorities that deal with all local services.
Council elections in Northern Ireland have been moved back to Thursday 18 May because of the Coronation of King Charles III on Saturday.