BBC correspondent Thomas Fessy posts an image of journalists waiting for the arrival of centre-right contender François Fillon. Tension is building.

The French interior ministry says anyone receiving "fake texts predicting results" should ignore them as it does not send texts. "The interior ministry isn't putting out any results, either by text or any other way before 20:00," it has tweeted.

Voting is over in all but the big cities, and the counting has started. This is Tulle, a town in the constituency of outgoing Socialist President François Hollande.

Image source, Reuters

After a frantic day at polling stations in London, the queues have now disappeared, the French embassy in the UK says.

Excitement is building and flags are waving at Macron's headquarters. Supporters are in the hall, says AFP correspondent Lina Trabelsi.

Three days after Xavier Jugelé was shot dead by a gunman on the Champs Elysees, a Mass is being held at Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris in his memory while voting nears an end in Paris.

Two police officers are still being treated in jail for the pre-election attack and dozens of police are taking part in the Mass.

Image source, AFP

You can read this personal account by the BBC's Nick Garnett who met the murdered officer on the night of the Paris attacks.

In a sports hall in the Northern town of Hénin-Beaumont the press is gathering in force to hear Marine Le Pen, says the BBC's Kevin Connolly. 

Polls are drawing to a close in France where voters have been turning up in the many thousands to cast their ballots in the country's most unpredictable presidential election for year. 

The first polling stations are closing their doors now (19:00 local time). Major cities have another hour.

Attention is turning to the headquarters across France of the main candidates as they prepare their speeches after a busy day. 

France's polling commission has warned voters not to pay attention to a poll doing the rounds that has fallen foul of the country's strict election laws. The commission says it has received assurances from eight polling organisations that they didn't come up with the details of the poll, carried out after the murder of a policeman on the Champs Elysees on Thursday. 

Two men have been placed under formal investigation suspected of planning an "imminent" attack during France's election period, local media report.

The Frenchmen, Clement Baur, 23, and Mahiedine Merabet, 29, are believed to have been planning attacks as voters went to the polls, Aujourd'hui en France daily newspaper reports. 

The men were detained in Marseille on Tuesday. Investigators believe the suspects were planning to video their attacks.

Police said they found explosives and several guns at a flat linked to the two men.

The men were reportedly radicalised in prison.

Image source, AFP

France's interior ministry has tweeted: "Have you forgotten to go and vote? It's not too late: you have until 7pm or 8pm in the towns!"

Perhaps they've seen the abstention rate, which is estimated at 22% by Ipsos, although lower by other polling organisations.

Hundreds of journalists are gathering in Hénin-Beaumont, the flagship municipality of the National Front (FN), ahead of leader Marine Le Pen's speech this evening.

The party has focused on signature issues here such as security and immigration.

For more on how the far-right group captured Hénin-Beaumont, a former Socialist stronghold, we have an explainer here. 

Every French election ends with projections broadcast on national TV at 20:00 (18:00 GMT), as the polls close in the big cities. But this one may well be different. For a start, outside the main cities, voting will close an hour later than usual at 19:00 so there is less time to collate initial results. 

And then there is another factor that is straining the nerves at the big TV channels. Two candidates will go through to the second round run-off, but the race has been so close that the main channels have even planned for showing three faces at the top of their eight o'clock bulletin: just in case they are not 100% sure who will go through. 

Image source, Getty Images

News website The Local France, external has suggested an interesting way of comparing the top candidates for the French presidency.

To get a flavour of their policy ideas and where they stand on the issues that really matter, you could digest their manifesto pledges or you could, says the publication, compare them with French cheeses. 

Click on the link in this tweet if you fancy a slice of the action. 

The latest figures on today's turnout for the first round of the French presidential election put the number slightly lower than at recent previous elections, despite predictions that overall turnout was on course for 80%. 

The French interior ministry is reporting that, for the time period in the voting process up to 17:00 local time, the ministry has this year's figures at 69.42%, compared with 70.59% in 2012 and 73.87% in 2007. 

The turnout for the same time period on the day of voting in 2002 was 58.45%, Reuters news agency reports. 

Image source, AFP

Reporters from the Bondy Blog, external - a news organisation funded by several mainstream media organisations that chronicles life in France's deprived suburbs or "banlieues" - have been at polling stations to assess the mood there.

Above is a picture of a mother who had brought her daughter to vote for the first time in the north-eastern Paris suburb of Bondy.

Reporter Sarah Ichou also quotes two women aged 20 as saying: "If we want the country to change we have to participate in this. Talking is great but you have to act too." 

However reporters also spoke to many who declared that they would not vote, giving various reasons.

The suburbs around Paris had registered the lowest turnout in the country at midday, with fewer than a quarter of eligible voters having cast their ballots thus far.

"This presidential election is a masquerade and I refuse to take part in it," said Lionel in the western suburb of Montreuil.

"I don't feel the debate has anything to do with me. I'm a student and I have my problems and they are talking about the burkini," said Leila.

The burkini is a full-body swimsuit developed for conservative Muslim women that was briefly banned last summer by some southern French resorts following the Nice lorry attack.

"I'm fed up with being made a fool of," said Mohamed in Montreuil.

"I'm not going to vote because the candidates make lovely promises but they are never followed by acts," said Fekhat in the north-east Paris suburb or Aulnay.

"The candidates don't come to see us in our suburbs to tell us about their programmes. We feel we are being left out," he added

The area saw rioting earlier this year after a policeman was accused of raping a young black man with his truncheon.

Banlieue youths see French state as the enemy

Getting the estate to vote in Marseille

Image source, AFP

There are reports that a French photographer has been arrested at a polling station in Hénin-Beaumont, where scuffles earlier took place involving topless protesters. 

Jacob Khrist, a Paris-based professional photographer working for the Hans Lucas media group, was detained on Sunday morning, AFP news agency reports. 

The circumstances of his arrest remain unclear. 

Hans Lucas later wrote in a post on Facebook, external that it was trying to establish what had happened in the incident involving Mr Khrist. 

"After several phone calls, it is impossible to know more about his condition," the post said. 

The French embassy in London insists waiting times are a maximum of an hour and a half and says people saying otherwise risk discouraging fellow citizens from voting.

Some on social media have criticised the French authorities' organisation after reporting waiting times of up to three hours.

The US president is keeping an eye on the French vote...