The first tranche of results of the Iowa caucuses have finally been released, and Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders lead the way.

The South Bend, Indiana mayor has so far received 26.9 percent of delegates, with Sanders just behind on 25.1 percent.

After that, Elizabeth Warren is on 18.3 percent, Joe Biden at 15.3 percent, and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar at 12.6 percent.

It comes after the farcical circumstances of Monday evening, with a coding error in the app launched to assist with the caucus vote led to major delays in reporting, with the fill vote still not in yet.

It should be noted that only 41 delegates were up for grabs in the Monday vote, just a small fraction of the 1,991 Democratic delegates needed to win the nomination.

While it doesn't have a huge bearing on the final result, how candidates perform in Iowa (and subsequently New Hampshire) can provide early momentum for those who perform well, and cause those who under-perform to drop out.

Klobuchar has been fighting against the likes of Biden and Buttigieg for the Democratic Party's more moderate voters, and Buttigieg's performance in Iowa could spell bad news for her prospects going forward.

If Buttigieg's support holds in New Hampshire and other early states, and with Biden likely to pick up more support in states with higher African-American populations, the Minnesota senator could find herself struggling to stay in the race.

Nonetheless, Klobuchar took advantage of the result delays to become the first candidate to make a speech, getting valuable airtime with national broadcasters looking to fill time with no results to speak of.

Klobuchar joined many of the other candidates in leaving Iowa late Monday night, arriving in New Hampshire, which holds its primary next Tuesday.