Marine Le Pen’s Front National secured its greatest ever election performance on Sunday, taking 7.6 million votes – or 21.4 per cent of the electorate.

That was the picture drawn for the TV cameras yesterday at the party’s headquarters in Hénin-Beaumont: champagne flowing, banners declaring “Marine for President”, music and a party into the night.

But after their leader's speech, once the standing ovation was over, some confided their disappointment that Ms Le Pen had failed to finish ahead of Emmanuel Macron (who took 24 per cent) in the first round. One activist told The Independent: "I know our next President will be Macron.” Raising a glass, he added: “It's still good that she made it to the second round – so let's celebrate anyway.”

“The score is extremely disappointing, very far from what had been forecast in the polls of recent months,” said Jean-Yves Camus, analyst and president of the observatory of radicalism at the Jean-Jaures foundation, pointing to surveys which at one point had Ms Le Pen miles ahead on 29 per cent.

“The polls had predicted for weeks that she would be ahead after the first lap – it’s proof that something went wrong.” When analysing the causes of what he calls Ms Le Pen’s “failure”, Mr Camus suggested the party needed to “get back to the fundamentals if it wants to break through”.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the former Front National (FN) leader, criticised his daughter on French radio station Europe 1 for abandoning the party’s routes. While he praised her for making the second round, he said he would have wanted “a more dynamic, more aggressive, more French campaign, with less desire to detoxify”.

In the end, while detoxification might have seemed the obvious route for Ms Le Pen to the Élysée Palace, Mr Camus said she was caught between two paths. “On the final stretch, she returned to her areas of predilection - security, immigration - but it was not enough [either].”

Stéphane Wahnich, a political analyst who has written two books about the FN leader, said Ms Le Pen’s passage into the second round was “not really a victory”. He said she was carried through by the party’s strong voter base and “mainly thanks to Fillon, to voters disgusted by the fake jobs allegations [against him]”.

“She had more difficulties than expected – the detoxification shows its limits,” he said, adding that supporters hoped she might climb up from the mid-twenties to 30 per cent of the vote – not down to 21.

If the polls are right now, sitting around 22 points behind with two weeks to go, Ms Le Pen has virtually no chance of being elected in the second round. To compound matters, public figures from across the political spectrum have rallied round to offer Mr Macron their support, with only the far-left’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon refusing to pick a favourite.

President François Hollande spoke on Monday afternoon, saying that "the presence of the extreme right is once again posing a risk to our country", putting what little political weight he has left behind his former economics minister.

Ms Le Pen did not ignore these pronouncements. Instead, during a rally in Rouvray, in the Pas-de-Calais, she lambasted the fact that "the old, rotten Republican front, which no one wants any more, that the French have rejected with a rare violence, is trying to get together with Mr Macron”. “I almost want to say so much the better!” she added.

Here in Paris, Ms Le Pen won only 5 per cent of the vote. Like never before, the capital has shown itself to be a political singularity.

Xavier Paquet, 32, who works in marketing, told The Independent he was “not surprised by the score of the FN in major cities”, especially in Paris and Lyon, where he grew up.

French Presidential Election Show all 20 1 /20 French Presidential Election French Presidential Election Voters line up to cast their ballots REUTERS French Presidential Election French expats queue along the street outside the Lycee Francais Charles de Gaulle to cast their vote in a polling station inside the school, in the first round of the 2017 French presidential election, in London, Britain April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor - RTS13JM5 REUTERS French Presidential Election People line up to vote in the first round of 2017 French presidential election at a polling station in Vaulx-en-Velin near Lyon, France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot - RTS13HSP REUTERS French Presidential Election Police patrol polling stations in France REUTERS French Presidential Election Francois Fillon (L), member of the Republicans political party and 2017 French presidential election candidate of the French centre-right, casts his vote in the first round of 2017 French presidential election in Paris, France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Christophe Archambault/Pool - RTS13IH0 REUTERS French Presidential Election Benoit Hamon (C), French Socialist party 2017 presidential candidate, is surrounded by photographers as he leaves a polling station after voting in the first round of 2017 French presidential election in Trappes, near Paris, France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler - RTS13I0Y REUTERS French Presidential Election French President Francois Hollande collects voting slips before casting his ballot in the first round of the 2017 French presidential election at a polling station in Tulle, France, on April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Georges Gobet/Pool - RTS13ITO REUTERS French Presidential Election A policeman walks by election posters near a polling station during the first round of 2017 French presidential election in Paris, France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann - RTS13I3A REUTERS French Presidential Election Emmanuel Macron and wife Brigitte Trogneux REUTERS French Presidential Election Emmanuel Macron casts his ballot REUTERS French Presidential Election Emmanuel Macron, head of the political movement En Marche !, or Onwards !, and candidate for the 2017 French presidential election, waves hand during in the first round of 2017 French presidential election at a polling station in Le Touquet, northern France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier - RTS13ICH SAA/ French Presidential Election Jean-Luc Melenchon, candidate of the French far-left Parti de Gauche and candidate for the French 2017 presidential election, leaves a polling booth in the first round of 2017 French presidential election at a polling station in Paris, France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe - RTS13IKB REUTERS French Presidential Election Front National leader Marine Le Pen casts her ballot Marine Le Pen (L), French National Front (FN) political party leader and candidate for French 2017 presidential election, casts her ballot in the first round of 2017 French presidential election at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, northern France, April 23, 2017. At R, Mayor of Henin-Beaumont Steeve Briois. REUTERS/Charles Platiau - RTS13IEI REUTERS French Presidential Election Early ballots are read as results continue to come in Reuters French Presidential Election Macron supporters react as results come in early in the evening AP French Presidential Election Supporters of Front National leader Marine Le Pen cheer as early results come in Reuters French Presidential Election Alamy Live News. J21KYW Paris, France. 23rd April 2017. Marcon supporters wave French and EU flags after the announcement that he is the leader in the exit polls after the polling stations have been closed. Supporters of Emmanuel Macron, the Presidential candidate from the social liberal political party En Marche! celebrate the exit polls, that see him in first place, ahead of Marine Le Pen from the Front National in the first round of the French Presidential election. Credit: Michael Debets/Alamy Live News This is an Alamy Live News image and may not be part of your current Alamy deal . If you are unsure, please contact our sales team to check. Alamy French Presidential Election Front National leader Marine Le Pen takes to the stage to address her supporters as fans cheer Reuters French Presidential Election Emmanuel Macron greets supporters on Sunday night AP French Presidential Election Emmanuel Macron and wife Brigitte Trogneux celebrate the incoming results EPA

“Historically these cities vote less for FN because there are more top professions and valued jobs and more access to information and culture,” he said.

Isabelle, a psychologist, voted for Macron and for her, the result of this first round showed that there was “a split between a part of the population that aspires to a profound change because they are disappointed, frustrated and deeply dissatisfied with their present situation, and another part more optimistic about the same situation”.

She said she felt good about French society but recognises that she “speaks from a middle class position” with a better quality of life.

Guillaume, a Parisian lawyer, voted for François Fillon but was "disappointed that Macron is in the lead" and regretted "not to have voted for Marine in the first round". He assured The Independent that “in two weeks, I will cast a patriotic vote".

Jérôme, a 42-year-old photographer, was afraid that Ms Le Pen would be in the second round "and that's what happened". He said he voted for Mr Macron “out of pragmatism” to keep Francois Fillon out of the second round, on the basis he “had a chance”. "I did not vote against Le Pen because I knew she had no chance of being elected in the second round," he said, though he “rejects both of them as much [as each other]. His Macron vote “is not a vote felt from the heart”, he added. “It does not bother me that he's young but what he wants to do is blurry.”

French Election: Macron and Le Pen to fight for presidency

For Mr Macron, the next two weeks are not just about winning the presidency. He must also persuade the public to back his start-up En Marche! party in National Assembly elections in June – or else he will fail to secure the parliamentary majority required to push through legislative changes.

Perhaps with that in mind, he will subject himself to a TV debate against Ms Le Pen between the two rounds, his team confirmed on Monday. Jacques Chirac refused such a debate when he was similarly ahead against Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2002.

Mr Camus said there was still time for the presidential favourite to build a functioning government, even without the backing of the old parties. “If someone who has his age, his background, his profile, finds himself in the second round, it is because something is happening, because there is a deep desire for change in our society.”

But the election is not yet over, Mr Wahnich said, warning most pundits were “too quick to give Mr Macron the victory”. Ms Le Pen could yet outperform the polls, with the potential for voter fatigue to kick in. “People go too fast in parliamentary elections, and there is a risk of heavy demobilisation,” he said.