text: In an email thanking his campaign team after voting closed, Mr Burnham said getting this far was "a real achievement".
  BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said this was seen by some of his supporters as a concession of defeat.
  But a campaign source said this was "categorically not" the case.
  The winner of the leadership election will be announced on Saturday.
  Mr Burnham is up against Jeremy Corbyn, Liz Kendall and Yvette Cooper in the contest.
  In his email, he told supporters the campaign had "tested us all on every level".
  He said: "But we have coped with the inevitable ups and downs with good humour and run a strong, positive and professional campaign of which you can all be very proud.
  "Most importantly, we have stayed true to our values and competitive right to the end of the race.
  "We end it with an outside but realistic chance of winning. That is a real achievement."
  Mr Burnham added that "thousands of ordinary, decent party members are now worried about where we are heading".
  Mr Corbyn only made it on to the ballot paper at the last minute when nominations were finalised in June but has become the bookies' favourite.
  On Twitter, he said it had been "an inspiring summer" regardless of the outcome of the election.
  This is it. The last minute phone banks, panics over missing ballots, final pleas from the candidates are done.
  The vote is over and now Labour's wait begins. Before the result though it seems that already the party has been changed, possibly forever by these extraordinary last few months.
  An unexpected candidate has done the unexpected and Jeremy Corbyn has put himself into the most likely position to win the contest. Strikingly, that is against the better judgement of nearly every single senior figure in the Labour Party, and crucially nearly all of its MPs.
  Read Laura's blog in full
  One of Mr Corbyn's supporters, Leeds East MP Richard Burgon, said many people would be "pleasantly surprised" at his leadership style if he won.
  "It will be a more collegiate and a more collectivist leadership which will include people," he said. "It will include MPs who don't agree with some of Jeremy's politics."
  Speaking to the BBC at Mr Corbyn's final rally in his Islington North constituency, Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey said the left-wing MP had already won in his eyes.
  He said Mr Corbyn had "lit up our movement in a way that I didn't think was possible" after the general election, adding: "That's a victory in itself."
  "Jeremy, in that calm fashion seems to have touched a pulse, and that pulse is about people rejecting the constant downbeat austerity message that's been coming out of politics for thirty five years," Mr McCluskey added.
  Angela Eagle, who is running for the deputy Labour leadership, told the BBC she would serve whichever leader is elected, adding that the party needed to capitalise on the "enthusiasm for politics" and "hope" the contest had generated.
  The contest has been plagued by internal rows over Labour's direction and concerns that non-party supporters have tried to influence the outcome.
  Labour has said efforts to weed out non-party supporters would continue up until results day.
  In the closing speech of her campaign, Ms Kendall - who has stressed the need for Labour to appeal to a broader section of the electorate - said she may have been "too blunt" at times.
  She added: "But my view is that in politics, as in life, you cannot deal with problems by ignoring or avoiding them."
  There have also been claims from some people that they did not receive their ballot papers in time to vote.
  London mayor hopeful David Lammy said 20% of supporters who his team spoke to had received nothing.
  Labour said ballots had been emailed and posted out correctly to everyone entitled to vote.
  The party said everyone who had not voted or said they did not have a ballot had received a final email reminder on Tuesday.
  Labour's new deputy leader will also be unveiled at the leadership conference on Saturday, and its London mayoral candidate will be announced on Friday.
target: Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham has told supporters he has an "outside but realistic chance" of winning the contest.