The Scottish Greens have recorded their best Holyrood result since 2003, beating the Liberal Democrats to become the fourth largest party.

Co-convener Patrick Harvie pushed Labour into third place in the Greens' target Kelvin constituency seat, and joined five other MSPs who took their place through the regional list.

Harvie hailed the party's "progress" but said it was "deeply frustrating" that the party failed in their stated aim to get list MSPs elected in every Scottish region.

"We will continue to build on the momentum we have built during this campaign."

"There will be opportunities for us, as  we did in the last minority government, to have influence on policy and to push the Scottish Government in the right direction."

Ross Greer became the youngest MSP in the parliament's history, after the 21-year-old was elected in the West of Scotland.

The Greens also now have two MSPs for the Lothian region, with Alison Johnstone returned to the Scottish Parliament along with land reform campaigner Andy Wightman. Mark Ruskell takes his place at Holyrood after coming through in the Mid Scotland and Fife region.

Johnstone, the party's health spokeswoman, said: "I'm delighted to be re-elected to serve Lothian and look forward to continuing to bring constructive pressure to bear in parliament, building on the work I've already done on everything from fracking and planning issues to community ownership and health inequalities.

"I'm delighted we have doubled our representation in Lothian. Andy and I look forward to keeping up the pressure in parliament on the issues that matter."

Mr Wightman said: "This boost in support along with our growing membership has delivered an amazing result in Lothian.

"I want to thank the Green teams across Edinburgh, West Lothian, Midlothian and Musselburgh for all the hard work they put in. I am determined to bring bold ideas into parliament and will pursue issues such as local democracy and land reform with vigour."

In the Highlands and Islands regional list, former SNP MSP John Finnie, who later served at Holyrood as an independent, was elected as a Green MSP.

He said: "It's great to be re-elected to represent this amazing part of Scotland, this time as a Scottish Green. Across the region the Green team have worked hard to reach more voters than ever before."

The party could well have a significant role in the new parliament, as the SNP failed to get a majority so will require the support of other parties to pass legislation. There had been speculation that the party could have been invited into a formal coalition but Nicola Sturgeon ruled out the possibility in a speech on Friday, saying her party intends to form a minority government.