Exit polls show Germany's Social Democrats leading over far-right AfD

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) has managed to fend off the far-right AfD in a state election in Brandenburg, according to exit polls.

The SPD, which has governed the state surrounding the capital Berlin since reunification in 1990, scored 32 percent of the vote, ahead of the Alternative for Germany on 29 percent, in a last minute comeback, according to the exit poll by broadcaster ZDF on Sunday.

Another exit poll, by Infratest Dimap for public broadcaster ARD, projected that the Social Democrats won 31 percent of the votes and AfD won 10 percent.

The results are expected later on Sunday.

'Capitalising on worries'

The voting took place three weeks after the far-right party made gains in two other states in eastern Germany.

The success of the SPD could give Scholz a slight reprieve from party discussions about his suitability to be its chancellor candidate for next year's federal elections.

It is unlikely however to give him or his party a major boost given the popular, incumbent SPD premier Dietmar Woidke had distanced himself from Scholz during the campaign and criticised the federal government's policies.

The AfD is one of several far-right groups in Europe capitalising on worries over an economic slowdown, immigration and the Ukraine war — concerns that are particularly strong in formerly Communist eastern Germany.