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Centrist, independent candidate Emmanuel Macron will face far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the May 7 run-off of the French presidential election, according to exit polls.
The polls show Macron leading with 24 percent, followed by Le Pen with 21.8 percent. Conservative candidate Francois Fillon and far-left Jean-Luc Melenchon both trail with 19 percent.
Turnout appeared to be similar to the 2012 election, which stood at about 80 percent.
The official Interior Ministry count, still underway, appears to confirm the exit polls.
It shows Macron's vote rising with more urban votes counted as Le Pen's numbers fall.
The Socialist candidate, Benoit Hamon, is out with around 6.5 percent.
Addressing supporters at the campaign headquarters in Paris, Macron appealed for a clear majority in the second round, promising to embrace all his supporters regardless of where they come from.
"Today, the people of France have spoken," the former minister of economy said. "As our country confronts an unprecedented moment in its history, it has responded in the best way possible -- by voting in huge numbers. It has decided to place me first in this first round.
"You are the face of this renewal. You are the face of France's hope. My fellow citizens, there is not more than one France. There is only one, ours, the France of patriots, in a Europe that protects and that we must reform," he added.
Speaking separately at their campaign headquarters, Hamon and Fillon said they both took full responsibility for the election drubbing.
The two called on voters to block the rise of the far-right candidate by backing Macron in the run-off.
"We have to choose what is best for our country. Abstention is not in my genes, above all when an extremist party is close to power," Fillon said.
"The Front National is well known for its violence … its programme would lead our country to bankruptcy and Europe into chaos," he said.
"I will vote for Emmanuel Macron. I consider it my duty to tell you this frankly. It is up to you to reflect on what is best for your country, and for your children."
French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve joined his Socialist party's defeated candidate Hamon in urging supporters to support Macron.
"I solemnly call for a vote for Emmanuel Macron in the second round in order to beat the Front National and obstruct the disastrous project of Marine Le Pen that would take France backwards and divide the French people," Cazeneuve told supporters at the Socialists campaign headquarters.
Speaking in her constituency of Henin-Beaumont, Le Pen evoked a "historic result " and "an act of French pride".
"You now have the chance to choose real change. This is what I propose: real change," she said.
"It is time to liberate the French nation from arrogant elites who want to dictate how it must behave. Because yes, I am the candidate of the people," she added.
Meanwhile, police fired tear gas on the Place de la Bastille in eastern Paris as crowds of young people, mixed with members of anarchist and anti-fascist groups, gathered to protest Le Pen's second-place finish and her hardline, anti-immigrant policies.
Voters cast their ballots on Sunday under high-security measures after Thursday's terrorist shooting in the French capital, in which a police officer and the gunman both died.
The election marks one of the most unpredictable presidential contests in years, with four frontrunners representing a deeply polarized political landscape.
However, surveys projecting a second round pitting Macron against Le Pen have consistently shown the centrist winning by a comfortable margin.
France's new president will be formally confirmed by mid-May.
The presidential election will be followed by a two-round legislative election to select the French parliament in June. -
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