atmosphere of excitement (idiom/phrase)

[aggiesteph]

I am looking for an idiomatic expression or a phrase in English that would convey the meaning of "atmosphere of excitement" or "the air filled with excitement". In the Polish language we use an idiom which roughly translates to "the excitement reached its zenith", but I was wondering whether it sounds natural in English and if there are similar expressions which are maybe more common.

 

[emsr2d2]

You will hear "as the excitement reached its peak". That, of course, does not mean the same as simply saying that somewhere has an atmosphere of excitement. We sometimes say "the atmosphere is/was electric".

 

[aggiesteph]

The sentence I was going to use it in described a situation in which everybody could not wait for something they had been trying to achive for a long time. So could I write that right before getting there "the excitement reached its peak"?