Marine Le Pen, French far-right leader, has brought her RN party closer to power than it has ever been. (Photo: Reuters)

The RN was seen winning around 34% of the vote, exit polls from Ipsos, Ifop, OpinionWay and Elabe showed.

The RN's share of the vote was comfortably ahead of leftist and centrist rivals, including President Macron's Together alliance, whose bloc was seen winning 20.5%-23%.

The New Popular Front (NFP), a hastily assembled left-wing coalition, was projected to win around 29% of the vote, the exit polls showed.