US presidential debate: Trump refuses to make commitment to accept election result

Wednesday night's final televised debate between US presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was once again a fiery affair, with the Republican reiterating his belief that he cannot commit to accepting the election result.

The position from Trump directly contradicts decades of political precedent in which candidates have accepted the democratic process as legitimate.

Trump and Clinton went head to head on issues such as abortion, gun rights and foreign policy in the debate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

When asked by debate moderator Chris Wallace from Fox News whether he would accept the decision of the electorate if he loses, Trump was non-committal.

"I will tell you at the time," Trump said. "I will keep you in suspense."

The New York businessman for days has been suggesting that the outcome of the election will be rigged against him.

Although perhaps not as nasty as the two previous presidential debates, there were still plenty of punches thrown between the two candidates.

Clinton accused Trump of being a "puppet" of Russian president Vladimir Putin, while the Republican interrupted her by saying she was "such a nasty woman".

National polls show a significant lead for Clinton ahead of the 8 November election, and it looks increasingly likely that Trump's controversial policies and erratic comments are finally counting against him.

Abortion was one of the particular causes for policy disagreement between the two nominees, with Trump claiming the historic 1973 Roe v Wade decision would immediately be overturned, while Clinton affirmed that "I can tell you the government has no business in the decisions that women make with their families in accordance with their rights."

While Trump was widely considered to have needed a resounding victory in last night's debate to stand any chance of a win in the election in 19 days, there is still time for plenty of twists and turns.