Are you in or out? As the referendum campaign comes to an end, political editor Paul Francis looks back at how the rival camps have tried to woo support in Kent.

It has been a campaign marked by fear rather than optimism, negativity rather than positivity.

It has been full blooded, attritional political warfare as the two rival sides squared up to each other and sought to deliver a knockout blow.

Scroll down for video

Every claim has been met with a counter-claim, every expert opinion challenged by a contrary view, every forecast contradicted by another.

The result? Plenty of heat but not much light in a debate which has left frustrated voters pleading for more "facts" to try and cut through the black propaganda.

So, how has the EU referendum campaign been for Kent?

Inevitably, the issue of immigration has cast a long shadow.

And the tone was set right at the start with David Cameron warning that if there was a Brexit, then the migrant camps at Calais would end up in places like Dover and Margate.

His claim was based on an assertion that the French authorities would, if the UK voted to leave, rip up a treaty that allowed our immigration officials to carry out checks on French soil.

The claim infuriated the Brexit camp which pointed out that the treaty was nothing to do with the EU but was a bilateral one with France.

This early skirmish was a portent of what was to come, with the incendiary issue of immigration at the centre of the debate in the county - especially for the Brexiteers.

VIDEO: Paul On Politics - EU Special

There were claims that already over-loaded public services were at breaking point in the county because of the influx of migrants. There were too few school places. It was hard to access GPs.

Incidents involving refugees being rescued from flimsy dinghies they had tried to cross the channel in opened up another front.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage - never one to mince his words - warned the coast of Kent could see bodies “washed up on beaches” as would-be migrants became ever more desperate to reach the UK.

On the other side, the message was that immigration had and would continue to benefit the UK.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt, visiting Chatham, said that migrants contributed much-needed tax revenue which was - and would be - vital to fund investment in public services.

For the “Remain” camp, the key issue has been the economy. But its argument has often been about what the UK businesses could lose rather than what it might gain.

Chancellor George Osborne travelled to Ashford along with former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling to warn a Brexit would mean financial armageddon and the economy would go into meltdown.

The only thing missing from his doom-laden “Brexit Budget” was an image of the Grim Reaper as he set about warning £250m set aside for Operation Stack and a new Thames crossing might not be available.

Meanwhile, the county’s MPs set out where they stood and there were more wanting to stay than leave.

Among them, a few surprises: Dover MP Charlie Elphicke swung behind staying, as did the notably Euro-sceptic North Thanet MP Sir Roger Gale.

Their certainty was not, however, shared by the Chatham and Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch.

She penned a lengthy Facebook post to say she just could not decide and attacked what she described as a lamentable campaign by both sides which had "appalled and embarrassed" her.

We suspect it may well have been shared in private by some of her parliamentary colleagues as well as speaking for many undecided voters.

Meanwhile, the Ukip leader Nigel Farage took to an open-top bus for a tour round the Kent coast.

His message was a familiar one: if the UK wanted control of its destiny, the only option was to vote out.

But which direction were voters in the county leaning towards? A a poll for The KM Group revealed that voters in Kent were strongly inclined towards a Brexit with 57% of those surveyed wanting “out” and 43% wanting “in”.

As the quarrelsome campaign entered the final days, the tragic murder of Labour MP Jo Cox briefly silenced the rival camps.

Her death, rightly, prompted calls for a more reflective, respectful and gentler discourse among politicians, less coarseness, greater civility - in many ways, everything that the referendum campaign has been lacking.

Whatever the outcome, the only certainty is that the referendum debate about the UK’s position in Europe won’t end on Friday.

Click here for details on when and how to vote in the EU referendum in Kent, and when results are expected to be announced.