It was confirmed the gunman took hostages and exchanged fire with the police before he was shot dead. Nine police officers were involved in the rescue - one was injured but his helmet saved his life.
Police chief John Mina has given more details of what happened in Pulse at a press briefing.
He said the police had an officer at Pulse nightclub, who engaged in a gun battle with the gunman when the latter opened fire.
The gunman then retreated to another area of the club, taking hostages with him.
The authorities later decided to mount an operation to rescue the hostages.
Police found an assault rifle and a handgun on the gunman.
They also said he had "some type of device" on him. Earlier reports said the suspect had been wearing an explosive vest.
Orange County explosive team is currently checking a number of devices left at the venue, Chief Mina said.
AP
FBI officer says there is "no information to suggest there is any further threat" to Orlando or surrounding area.
Police chief John Mina says there are 'approximately 20 dead' in the Pulse nightclub.
An FBI spokesman says the mass shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism. He says authorities are looking into whether this was an act of domestic or international terror, and if the shooter was a lone wolf.
Police chief says the gunman had a rifle and a handgun and he had some type of device on him.
Local police chief reports that "many lives were lost" in the incident.
Police would not confirm the number of dead at this time but said "multiple people" had died in the shooting at the Pulse club.
He added that 42 people had been taken to hospital.
One Orlando witness, Christopher Hansen, described the incident as like being 'at a gun range'.
It's like you were at a gun range, and all you hear is just 'boom' and 'bang, bang', and it was just.... I don't think anybody really knew what was going on until they saw people on the ground bleeding and heard people screaming and heard the commotion
WFTV Channel 9 is reporting that a robot is being sent into the Pulse nightclub, where a gunman opened fire on revellers.
The gunman is dead, police have said, but earlier reports suggested he may have been wearing an explosive vest.
One eyewitness claimed there were two shooters. Speaking to the Orlando Sentinel, Javer Antonetti, 53, said he was towards the back of the room when he heard shots ring out.
"There were so many, at least 40," he said. "I saw two guys and it was constant, like 'pow, pow, pow,' " he said.
Many of the wounded were taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center, about three blocks from the nightclub, which was placed on lockdown after receiving several gunshot victims.
“Only essential workers are being allowed access into the building,” the hospital said in a statement.
Local journalist, Gail Tziperman Lotan, tweeted from the hospital.
Mina Justice told reporters she is still trying to contact her 30-year-old son Eddie, who texted her when the shooting happened and asked her to call police.
He told her he ran into a bathroom with other clubbers to hide. He then texted: 'He's coming'.
"The next text said: 'He has us, and he's in here with us'," Ms Justice told an Associated Press reporter. "That was the last conversation.''
A man who was inside a Florida nightclub as it came under attack has told the BBC he ran out of the back door of the building when he heard the shooting stop.
Eyewitness Ricardo Negron Almodovar said he was lying on the ground, hearing screaming all around him, when he realised the group he was with had a chance to escape.
Listen here.
Orlando Police and FBI to hold briefing at 07:00 local time (midday BST).
Police are also asking anyone who was at the nightclub and was a witness to come to their headquarters at 100 S. Hughey Ave.
Pride in London is among the first of the LGBT groups to respond to the Orlando shooting.
Really terrible news from Florida. Follow @pulseorlando and@OrlandoPolice for updates. twitter.com/pulseorlando/s…
Many are yet to hear whether their loved ones are safe, following the shooting.
AP
One eyewitness told the Associated Press that there were more than 100 people in the club at the time of the shooting.
Rob Rick said when he heard the shots, he got down on the ground and crawled towards the DJ booth.
"I heard 20, 40, 50 shots,'' another clubber, Jon Alamo told AP. "The music stopped."
It is understood a bouncer knocked down a partition between the club area and an area in the back where only workers are usually permitted, allowing people inside to escape through the back of the club.
Reuters
There were 372 mass shootings in the US in 2015, killing 475 people and wounding 1,870, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker, which catalogues such incidents. A mass shooting is defined as a single shooting incident which kills or injures four or more people, including the assailant.
Read more here.
The incident at the Pulse nightclub comes less than 48 hours after the shooting of singer Christina Grimmie, also in Orlando.
The 22-year-old - a former contestant on the US version of The Voice - was shot while signing autographs after a concert in the city on Friday night, and died in hospital.
The assailant shot and killed himself.
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