‘Gravity' soared over its rivals to come away from the 86th Academy Awards with a total of seven Oscars, but it was '12 Years A Slave' that has won the most coveted award of the night, Best Picture.

Here’s a recap of our live coverage of one of the tightest Oscar races in recent memory, featuring the highlights of who won what, who said what, and who said it best:

 

Midnight – Best Picture goes to “12 Years A Slave,” the harrowing true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man who is kidnapped into slavery.

“Everyone deserves not to just survive, but to live,” says director Steve McQueen in accepting his trophy. “This is the most important legacy of Solomon Northup.”

McQueen dedicates his win to those who have endured slavery and "the 21 million who still suffer slavery today."

11:50 – Matthew McConaughey snags Best Actor for his transformative role in “Dallas Buyers’ Club."  In his acceptance speech, the 44-year-old Texas native replaces his trademark “Alright, alright, alright,” with “Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you."

After offering tribute to God, his family, and his wife and children, McConaughey then reveals that his greatest hero has always been… himself, in 10 years.

“That leaves me with someone to keep on chasing,” he says.

11:45 - Cate Blanchett, a perennial winner this awards season, earns a Best Actress Oscar for her role in Woody Allen’s "Blue Jasmine." She thanks the audiences who saw her film, saying they helped to disprove the notion that “female films”, with women at the centre, are “niche” films.

“They are not; audiences want to see them and in fact, they earn money. The world is round, people!” Blanchett says to cheers.

11:35 – "Gravity"’s winning streak continues. Director Alfonso Cuaron snags the win for Best Director, becoming the first Latino winner of the honour in the Oscars’ 86-year history.

11:25 - Spike Jonze wins Best Original Screenplay for “Her,” while John Ridley wins Best Adapted Screenplay for “12 Years A Slave.”

11:20 – Cutest acceptance speech of the night goes to songwriter Robert Lopez and his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez, whose “Let It Go” wins Best Original Song.

“To our fellow nominees, you are all rock stars -- literally,” the pair quip to Bono, Pharrell Williams, and Karen O. “We have so many people to thank; luckily, everyone’s name rhymes. Indina Menzel, Kristin Bell…” they begin, and it goes from there.

Lopez has now achieved a so-called EGOT, which is considered the grand slam of composers. Over his career, Lopez has now won an Emmy, a Grammy, and Oscar, and a Tony Award. What’s more, he's now the youngest EGOT winner ever.

11:15 – “Gravity” is emerging the biggest winner of the night, with composer Steven Price picking up the film's sixth Oscar for Best Original Score.

11:00 - That bit Ellen DeGeneres did about ordering pizzas for all the hungry actors in the crowd? Turns out that was real: a real pizza delivery guy, and real pizzas: veggie with no cheese, and cheese, just like Ellen's people ordered.

And also, that hilarious group selfie Ellen tweeted out? It was re-tweeted so many times, it broke Twitter.

10:55 – Bette Midler caps off the annual In Memoriam reel with a performance of her tear-jerker, “Wind Beneath My Wings.”

10:40 – The Best Production Design Oscar goes to “The Great Gatsby.”

10:35 – Pop singer Pink wows the crowd with her stirring version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” as the Oscars pay tribute to “The Wizard of Oz,” on the film’s 75th anniversary.

10:30 – And yet another win for “Gravity.” Alfonso Cuaron earns his first Oscar for Best Film Editing along with co-editor Mark Sanger.

10:15 - A clearly elated Lupita Nyong’o wins the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her feature film debut, “12 Years A Slave.”

Nyong’o, who played slave worker Patsey in the film, thanked her director and crew – as well as the woman who inspired her character.

“It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else’s. And so I want to salute the spirit of Patsey, for her guidance,” a tearful Nyong’o says in accepting her award.

“When I look down at this golden statue,” she adds a few minutes later, “may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you are from, your dreams are valid.”

Only five other black women have won Best Supporting Actress: Hattie McDaniel, Whoopi Goldberg, Jennifer Hudson, Mo'Nique and Octavia Spencer.

10:10 – Two more wins for ‘Gravity,’ this time for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing.

9:30 – A win with a Canadian connection! “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” wins Best Short Documentary. The 38-minute film was co-produced by Montreal’s Frederic Bohbot and directed by Montreal-based director Malcolm Clarke.

Sadly, the film’s subject Alice Herz-Sommer, the world's oldest known Holocaust survivor at the time of filming, died just last week, at the age of 110.

“So, this really is for Alice,” Clarke tells the audience. “She was a woman who taught everyone on our crew to be a little bit more optimistic and a little bit more happy about the things going on in our lives. See the film; she’ll help you live a much happier life.”

9:20 – “Gravity” wins what could become the first of many technical award wins. The stunning space odyssey gets the nod for Best Visual Effects.

9:15 – Disney-Pixar’s "Frozen" wins Best Animated Feature film. The musical, based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale “The Snow Queen,” has been a big favourite this award season, picking up wins at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Producers’ Guild Awards, and the Critics' Choice Awards.

9:00 – As many expected, Best Costume Design goes to Catherine Martin for "The Great Gatsby." In her acceptance speech, Martin thanks her husband, Baz Luhrmann who, it just so happens, directed “Gatsby.”

8:50 – After turning heads with his short pants ensemble on the red carpet, Pharrell Williams takes to the stage for the first musical performance of the night wearing the same style of hat that grabbed headlines at the Grammys. Williams performs 'Happy,' his Oscar-nominated song from the "Despicable Me 2" soundtrack.

8:40 - Jared Leto wins the first award of the night, picking up Best Supporting Actor kudos for his performance in “Dallas Buyers Club.”

Leto gives a sweet (if tad long) acceptance speech, thanking his mom in the front row, who he says was once a teen mother and high school dropout. It was she, Leto says, who encouraged him to be “creative, work hard and to do something special."

Leto also addresses  "all the dreamers out there" in Ukraine and Venezuela, that "as you struggle to make your dreams happen, to live the impossible, we’re thinking of you tonight."

By the way, this was Leto's first movie role in almost six years. He had been devoting his energy to his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, before agreeing to the “Dallas Buyers Club” role.

8:35 – "It's going to be an exciting night, anything can happen, so many different possibilities," Ellen jokes in her opening. "Possibility No. 1: '12 Years a Slave' wins Best Picture. Possibility No. 2: You're all racists."

DeGeneres also has some fun at Jennifer Lawrence's expense, ribbing her for tripping up the stairs when she picked up her Best Actress Oscar last year.

"If you win tonight, I think we should bring YOU the Oscar," DeGeneres tells her.

8:30 – And we're off! Here comes what should be an entertaining opening monologue from DeGeneres.