The hard-Right, anti-migrant FPÖ party was on course to win elections in Austria on Sunday night, an exit poll suggested, putting it within reach of leading its first ever government.

An exit poll released on Sunday evening said that Herbert Kickl’s Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) came first place with 29 per cent of the vote. The centre-Right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), led by chancellor Karl Nehammer, came second with 26 per cent.

The poll predicted an unprecedented win for Mr Kickl’s FPÖ, which could install him as the first hard-Right chancellor in Austria’s post-war history if he manages to secure a coalition.

But the FPÖ is likely struggle to build a coalition as Austria’s other parties consider its leader, Mr Kickl, to be too toxic for the government. Much of the controversy surrounds his 2018 remark that the authorities should “concentrate asylum seekers in one place” in what was widely viewed as an allusion to Nazi death camps, a charge he rejects.

The hard-Right party could try and lead a coalition with Mr Nehammer’s ÖVP, which came second, but he has already ruled this out unless Mr Kickl puts forward an alternative candidate as chancellor.

During the campaign, the FPÖ pledged to turn the country into “Fortress Austria” and introduce a controversial “remigration” policy if it won the election. Remigration would involve deporting asylum seekers, particularly criminals, and blocking family reunification for migrants already based in Austria.

FPÖ party chiefs also campaigned to significantly tighten Austrian land border security, scrap Austrian involvement in the EU Sky Shield air-defence scheme and remain strictly neutral on foreign conflicts.

The party is considered sympathetic towards Russia and has described the EU’s military support for Ukraine as “madness”. In 2018, the party’s nominee for the post of foreign minister danced a waltz with Vladimir Putin at her wedding.

Mr Kickl agitated against lockdown rules during the pandemic, refusing to wear a face mask in parliament, while the party has pledged to enshrine in Austria’s constitution that there are only two genders.