The far-right Freedom Party's historic victory in an Austrian parliamentary election has left it isolated and partly at the mercy of a powerful critic: the president, who must oversee efforts towards forming a viable coalition government.

Its most likely partner the conservative Austrian People's Party (OVP), which finished runner up and also wants to impose tougher immigration rules. Otherwise a more centrist OVP-led coalition could take shape.

Austria’s Freedom Party leads in the vote count, but may not be able to find coalition partners to form a government under provocative leader Herbert Kickl.

Political parties on the European right celebrated Sunday's parliamentary election victory by Austria's Freedom Party (FPO) as a boost for national conservatives amid advances by the hard right fuelled by worries about immigration.

Austria's Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl hailed a "new era" after preliminary results showed Sunday that the FPÖ had become the first far-right party to win in the country's parliamentary election since World War II,

Kremlin, anti-Islam FPÖ, led by Herbert Kickl, won 29.2% of votes, beating the ruling ÖVP of the chancellor, Karl Nehammer, into second place