Sebartian Kurz was on the brink of returning to power in Austria last night as his party made sweeping gains in elections while the far-right Freedom Party suffered a crushing defeat, according to initial exit polls.

Mr Kurz’s conservative People’s Party (OVP) was on course for a commanding first place result with 37.2pc – a record 14 points clear of its nearest competitor.

The centre-left Social Democrats (SPO), which dominated much of post-war Austrian politics, was heading for its worst ever result, on 21.7pc.

The Freedom Party, which had campaigned for a renewal of its coalition with Mr Kurz, saw massive losses, with exit polls predicting it would limp into third place with just 16pc – 10 points down from two years ago.

“I’m almost speechless,” Mr Kurz told supporters. “I didn’t expect these results.”

Although he looked set to fall short of an absolute majority, Mr Kurz’s decision to gamble on ending his coalition with the Freedom Party and force snap elections appeared to have paid off.

The Freedom Party appeared to concede defeat and signal a return to opposition as the results poured in. “This is not a mandate to continue the government,” said Herbert Kickl, the deputy leader.

Harald Vilimsky, the party’s leader in the European Parliament, called for a “fresh start”, with “new faces in charge”.

The party appeared to pay the price for a series of corruption scandals centred on Heinz-Christian Strache, its former leader. Mr Kurz ended the coalition over a video of Mr Strache appearing to offer a woman, posing as a Russian oligarch, government contracts in return for electoral support. Mr Strache’s successor, Norbert Hofer, is widely expected to face a challenge after the disappointing result.

Peter Hajek, a political analyst, predicted “trench warfare” within the party, that could see it “implode”.

Mr Kurz now has a choice of three potential coalition partners, but his party was refusing to answer questions on its preferred choice last night.

Mirroring results elsewhere in Europe, the other big winners of the night were the Greens, who are set to return to parliament after a dramatic comeback took the party into fourth place, with 14pc.

That raised the possibility of a coalition between the OVP and the Greens, although they are far apart on many key policy issues. “We have always said we will talk with Kurz, everything else we will see later,” said Werner Kogler, the Green leader.

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