Newly-elected French President Emmanuel Macron has brought relief to a Europe fearing another Brexit-style populist upheaval or Trump-inspired protest vote.

Mr Macron won 65 per cent vote in a convincing win over conservative rival Marine Le Pen.

Shortly after the close of polling and the release of the exit polls that predicted a heavy win for Mr Macron, the centrist declared: “A new page in France’s long history has turned tonight.”

After his victory, Mr Macron urged the French to embrace rather than reject globalisation and vowed to work with Germany to relaunch the European Union — a body that has been struggling to find its relevance after years of crisis and scepticism among many Europeans.

Mr Macron’s victory is being seen as a reprieve for Europe and the liberal democratic values for which it has stood for more than half a century, with the nightmare scenarios of a far-right victory that were mooted across Europe in early 2017 not realised.

“Hurrah Macron President! There is hope for Europe!” Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni tweeted.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman called it a victory for a “strong united Europe” and for German-French friendship.

The euro rose as high as $US1.1024 on news of the victory, its highest in about six months, before stepping back to $US1.0998.

Minutes after his victory was called, Ms Le Pen phoned her opponent to congratulate him on his victory, telling a gathering of her supporters that the election result confirmed her National Front party and its far-right allies as France’s opposition.

The win for the 39-year-old, pro-Europe Mr Macron ended the dominance of France’s mainstream parties, but the result was also a warning, with Ms Le Pen’s National Front winning 35 per cent of the vote — almost double what her father Jean-Marie secured in 2002, a result which rocked France at the time, triggering a “Republican front” to counter his rise.

Mr Macron, who will be France’s youngest ever President, has never held elected office and formed his own political party, En Marche! (Onwards!), barely a year ago.

The President-elect said after the win he had heard “the rage, anxiety and doubt that a lot of you have expressed” and vowed to spend his five years in office “fighting the forces of divisions that undermine France”.

He said he would “guarantee the unity of the nation and … defend and protect Europe.”

He repeated several times that the task facing him and the country was enormous.

“We have the strength, the energy and the will –and we will not give in to fear,” he said.

The former investment banker served for two years as economy minister in President Francois Hollande’s unpopular Socialist government, but succeeded in portraying himself as the man to recast a political landscape dominated by the left-right divisions of the last century. 

At a projected 35 per cent of the vote, National Front attracted record support and underlined the scale of the divisions that Mr Macron must now try to heal.

The new President’s immediate challenge will now be to secure a majority in next month’s parliamentary election in order to implement his program.

The election turnout was France’s lowest since 1969 at 74 per cent. About 12.5 per cent of the 47 million votes cast were either blank or spoiled, official Interior Ministry figures show, while 24.7 per cent of the voters accounted for abstained.

An Ipsos poll found that about 39 per cent of French voters want Ms Le Pen to win a majority in Parliament.

Ms Le Pen said she would call for a new political force to challenge the legislative elections.

President Hollande hailed Mr Macron’s win as a sign of support for France’s place in the EU.

“His big victory confirms that a very large majority of our fellow citizens wanted to unite around the values of the Republic and show their attachment to the European Union,” he said in a statement.

Among the European and world leader who were quick to congratulate Mr Macron was US President Donald Trump, who said he looked forward to working with his new French counterpart.

– with agencies