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By 9am I'm back at my desk and the rest of the production team is arriving, coffee in hand. There are five producers, our reporter Lesley, and the desk editor Phil. Until we go on air, Phil will help me keep tabs on who's doing what and once I'm in the studio, runs things outside.

Drive's 9.45am prospects meeting lasts the best part of an hour and is always pretty animated, with each member of the team pitching their favourite stories, suggesting angles and guests. We all get a chance to scrutinise each others' ideas, though some are more vociferous than others. I do my best to chair the discussion, while Lucy - one of today's producers - helpfully yawns or groans depending on the quality of the stories.

After the meeting I assign the producers their stories, hopefully with their strengths and interests in mind. While they all get to work researching, fact-finding and fixing guests I plan a basic running order - a thankless task, because around half of the stories from the morning will be replaced or changed during the day. Meanwhile, Phil makes sure everyone's coping with their changing workloads.

Things seem to be going well, but the Cairo team has gone very quiet.

Soon I find out why. Hasit, the producer there, calls; they're having technical problems. The Ö÷²¥´óÐã can only broadcast from one safe location - but our equipment won't work there. Time for Plan B: Peter and the team head back to their hotel to see if they can broadcast from there.

I find 10 minutes to run down the corridor and buy a sandwich. When I get back there's a message from Cairo: the hotel won't work either. The only option is to use the Ö÷²¥´óÐã bureau. We come to a compromise; Peter will use the bureau, while Phil Mackie reports by mobile phone from Tahrir Square.

Around 2.45pm a flash on the wires says President Mubarak will make a statement later - no indication of when, or what he'll say. This happened yesterday, but in the end he just announced he would stay on as president. Will today be the same?

It's 3.56pm and still no sign of Peter. Only four minutes until we're on air and I'm missing the main person. It's OK. A minute later Peter dials in from Cairo. I talk down the line to check he's OK. He's as cool as a cucumber, of course. Then at 4pm, we're off and running.

No sooner has Aasmah started reading the news when an elderly general appears on the TV. The desk editor barks in my ear: "It's the Egyptian vice-president". I tell Aasmah to interrupt the news, and we cross to it just in time for his face to disappear. We've missed him. Not a good start.

"Mubarak has resigned!", Phil yells in my ear. Aasmah flashes the news, and suddenly it dawns on me that we're in for quite an afternoon. I make sure Peter's up-to-date, and we cross to Cairo. The moment his first two-way finishes he heads back to Tahrir Square with his team.

Our carefully crafted programme is out of date in a matter of seconds. Everyone in the newsroom is frantically fixing Egyptian guests - protestors, the foreign minister, a former prime minister - they keep on coming. I keep the presenters updated with electronic notes and messages in their ears, trying somehow to plan what's happening next. The two studio managers alongside me in the studio are frantically pressing buttons to make sure guests are there when we need them.

The editor wants to know why we haven't heard from Peter for a while. He's still in transit but broadcasts brilliantly from his mobile phone while making his way through the crowds. We get him back on air as he climbs up flights of stairs to get a view of central Cairo. For an old news hound, he sounds breathless.

Phil says is about to make a statement and Aasmah times her interview so we can hear him live. Peter's got his breath back, so we get him back up to describe the scene on his mobile. The guests keep coming. Suddenly our reporter Phil Mackie comes up in perfect quality - he's managed to commandeer some Ö÷²¥´óÐã equipment right in the heart of Tahrir Square.

We create some space by dropping other stories we were going to cover to get those incredible sounds on air. Minutes later Peter has joined Phil in the thick of the celebrations. Before I know it, it's 7pm, and Peter is saying his goodbyes from Cairo.

The day ends with one last meeting - a team debrief in the studio. I mention a few highlights from the programme and a couple of things we missed in the confusion of fast-moving events but really there's not much to add, it's been a pretty extraordinary (and exhausting) day for all of us.

Peter says down the line that he's off for a pint, if he can find one. I might just do the same.

Related Links
Check out the time-lapse video of the 5 live newsroom

Read the first blog entry for 24 Hours in the Life of 5 live by Breakfast's Chris Hunter

Read 5 live travel presenter Nick Duncalf's blog post

Read Rachel's blog about working on Your Call

Read Jonathan's post about the Derbyshire programme

Read Rabiya's blog about working on Logan

Read Alice's blog about Bacon

Read Phil Mackie's post about the trials of a 5 live regional journalist

Andy Silke is a Broadcast Journalist with 5 live.