Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling conservatives have suffered humiliating losses to the anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party in three key state elections seen as a referendum on her “open door” refugee policy which allowed more than a million migrants to enter the country last year.

The real shock of Sunday night's polling was the scale of AfD’s gains, which easily entered all three legislatures.

The three-year-old party (AfD) - which has campaigned against Mrs Merkel's open-borders approach - won 15.1% of the vote in Baden-Wuerttemberg, official results showed.

It scored about 12.5% in Rhineland-Palatinate and 24% in Saxony-Anhalt, where it finished second, according to projections by ARD and ZDF television with most districts counted.

At AfD headquarters in Berlin where the results were being monitored last night the atmosphere was described as “ ecstatic”. A jubilant Frauke Petry, the party leader declared on television: “We are now a party for the whole of Germany.” Alexander Gauland, another leading AfD figure said: “Ms Merkel’s refugee policy has lost her party votes – we, by contrast, have made it clear from the start that we don’t want to take them in.”

Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily.

Ms Merkel was not immediately available for comment. However initial opinion survey results showed that a large percentage of AfD votes came from disgruntled former supporters of her ruling Christian Democrats’ Union (CDU). In Saxony Anhalt alone, 76 per cent of the electorate thought that the main parties were “not taking their concerns about refugees seriously”, a German TV poll found last night.

The Chancellor’s CDU was nevertheless expected to hang on to power in Saxony Anhalt as the largest party, in coalition with Social Democrats and Greens. In Baden Württemberg, Ms Merkel’s party was humiliated by the ruling Green party, which won 32 per cent of the vote – its best result ever. Her party was expected to become a junior coalition partner in the state government under the leadership of the Greens.

Germany: Anti-refugee AfD party make big gains in regional elections

In Rhineland Palatinate Julia Klöckner, the CDU’s state leader and Ms Merkel’s favourite, failed to oust Malu Dreyer, the state’s current Social Democrat prime minister who was expected to form a governing coalition with other parties.

The result will increase discontent within Ms Merkel’s party and prompt renewed calls for a change of course on refugee policy. However it was thought unlikely to pose any immediate threat to her position as Chancellor as her refugee policies continue to enjoy the support of many conservatives as well as Social Democrats and Greens.

But the result marked a significant and, to many Germans, disturbing victory for the AfD. Like its next-door neighbour and closest European ally, France, Germany is now saddled with a vehemently anti-immigration, right-wing nationalist party whose presence has already sharpened political debate and contributed to the spread of racially motivated, anti-migrant violence.

Less than three years since its founding, the party which says it wants to put the Fatherland back in Germany now holds parliamentary seats in eight of Germany’s 16 federal states. In two other state elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Pomerania this autumn, the party is also almost certain to enter both parliaments. It also has good chances of winning seats in Germany’s most populous state of North Rhine Westfalia in 2017 elections there.

With a full German general election in the autumn next year, the AfD at the moment would seem well placed to enter Berlin’s national Bundestag parliament by the end of 2017. All other parties have ruled out the idea of a coalition with the AfD, so the arithmetic of Teutonic politics dictates that for the foreseeable future Germany may be run by a succession of grand coalition governments made up of its two main parties.

Angela Merkel claims that she is on the way to solving Europe’s worst refugee crisis since the Second World War. Much depends on whether she can broker a convincing deal with Turkey and her European allies later this week.