Updated
It has been one of the most exciting, unpredictable election campaigns in decades.
Within hours we'll find out whether the French presidential election has any more surprises in store.
Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen were rank outsiders in this election until Francois Fillon became embroiled in a scandal involving allegations his wife was paid a salary for over a decade for a parliamentary job she did not do.
Penelopegate, as the scandal became known, paved the way for the two outsiders to make it to the second round of the election, the first time since Charles De Gaulle set up the Fifth Republic that neither of the main parties have made it to the final stage of voting.
To give you an idea how extraordinary this is, take a look at the composition of France's lower house, the National Assembly.
Of the 577 seats, just two are held by Ms Le Pen's party, the National Front. None are held by Mr Macron's movement En Marche! which was formed just a year ago.
As far as outsiders go, Mr Macron has a fair bit of insider in him. He is a former merchant banker who served as an adviser, then minister, in the government of Francois Hollande.
But he has somehow managed to start a political movement from scratch, and within a year become favourite to be France's next president.
The opinion polls in the last two weeks have consistently suggested the En Marche! candidate is about 20 points ahead of his rival. But in an era of political upsets and growing populism, many are unwilling to write off Ms Le Pen.
The big uncertainty at this election is how will the supporters of far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon vote? Around 20 per cent of voters cast their ballot for him in the first round.
Could his supporters now be attracted by Ms Le Pen's anti-globalisation, anti-EU stance?
Or will they be repelled by her party's history of anti-Semitism and extremism?
Many Melenchon supporters may not vote at all or could spoil their ballot paper in protest and this could end up being an advantage for the far-right candidate.
However, it is unlikely that the National Front candidate will triumph.
The French pollsters have a reputation for accuracy and they would have to be monumentally wrong for Ms Le Pen to have a chance of winning.
In March, a poll done for Le Monde found that 58 per cent of voters considered the National Front a threat to democracy.
That suggests a comfortable majority of French people are highly motivated to make sure she does not end up in the Elysee Palace.
If the polls are right and Mr Macron triumphs, the unpredictability and uncertainty will not end there.
His movement has to lock in 577 candidates to run for the National Assembly elections in five weeks time.
En Marche!'s fledgling organisation must have been furiously doing background checks on novice candidates at the same time they've been trying to get their main man elected to the presidency.
Topics: elections, government-and-politics, world-politics, polls, france
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