Exit polls in Germany's elections predict a win for the conservatives while the far-right Alternative for Germany is set to record big gains.

Alternative for Germany (AfD) is now on course to win 20.5% of the vote, according to latest projections - but there is no way Friedrich Merz will work with it because of a long-standing political taboo against working with the far right, known as a Brandmauer - a firewall.

Friedrich Merz is on course to become post-World War II Germany’s 10th chancellor, the culmination of a yearslong political career that was once sidelined by his party’s iconic leader

Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left Social Democrats were headed for a stinging defeat and a likely third-place finish.

Germany’s conservative leader Friedrich Merz emerged as the winner in Sunday’s election, but the results gave his Christian Democrat-led bloc just one clear path to power and facing intense pressure to move quickly to form a government.

Provisional results confirm that mainstream conservatives led by Friedrich Merz won Germany's national election, while a far-right party surged to become the nation’s second-largest

Exit polls show the center-right Christian Democratic Union party leading, with the AfD party heading towards the strongest showing of the far-right since World War II.