The worst fears of French Jews looked likely to have been confirmed on Sunday evening as Marine Le Pen came through the first round of voting in the French presidential election.

The leader of the far-right Front National party gained around 22 per cent of the vote, enough to put her through to the run-off on May 7.

She will face centrist Emmanuel Macron who won 23 per cent of the first round votes.

The pair saw off strong challenges from conservative François Fillon and the hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

The result will be a blow to the 600,000-strong Jewish community, with many hoping Ms Le Pen would fall at the first hurdle.

French Jewish leaders had called on voters to “block” the National Front leader’s path to the Elysee Palace after she caused outrage during the campaign by denying France’s role in the round-up and transportation of the country’s Jews to death camps during the Second World War.

Crif, the representative council of Jewish institutions, condemned her comments as “an insult to France”.

Sacha Gozlan, the president of the French Union of Jewish students, called the remarks “revisionist”.

Ms Le Pen also angered the community by suggesting French Jews should be banned from wearing kippot as part of “the struggle against radical Islam.”

On Friday, Francis Kalifat, the CRIF president, said Ms Le Pen's and Mr Mélenchon’s growing popularity was “a real danger to our country’s democracy”.

Ms Le Pen has made a conscious effort to move her party away from the reputation it had under the leadership of her father, Jean Marie Le Pen. Mr Le Pen made controversial statements concerning Jews and other minority groups, and was prosecuted for Holocaust denial. In 2015, he was expelled by his daughter from the party he founded and led for decades.

But the French Jewish community has continued to view the Front National with suspicion, with Crif describing it as still a "xenophobic party".

The community may take comfort, however, from polls suggesting Mr Macron is favourite to beat Ms Le Pen on May 7, with the former economy minister expected to pick up votes from candidates who have been forced to drop out of the race.

Voting took today place amid tight security as 60,000 police and soldiers were deployed across the country following the fatal shooting of a policeman in Paris on Thursday.

Daesh have claimed responsibility for the attack.