Macron has taken the lead with 24 per cent of the votes in the election held Sunday, ahead of far right nationalist Marine Le Pen with 22 per cent.
"The voters who voted for Mr. Melenchon are angry voters". He says he's not left or right but progressive.
The second round will come down to a battle between the pro-European, pro-globalisation vision of Macron, 39, and Le Pen's hostility to the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. As the first results appeared on huge television screens at 8 PM (1800 GMT), some of the supporters of conservative challenger Francois Fillon screamed and swore as they realised the fate of their champion.
Le Pen has worked to make what was a fringe party under her father Jean-Marie electable, but anti-immigration and anti-Europe policies still form the basis of the National Front platform.
French voters shut out the country's political mainstream from the presidency for the first time in the country's modern history, and on Monday found themselves being courted across the spectrum for the runoff election.
The other candidates were: Socialist nominee Benoit Hamon, 49; Philippe Poutou, a 50-year-old Ford factory worker; pro-sovereignty candidates Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, 56, Francois Asselineau, 59 and Jacques Cheminade, 75; Trotskyist economy teacher Nathalie Arthaud, 47, and Jean Lassalle, a 61-year-old MP and former shepherd.
The image of a bright, young President of France will revive the country's image of itself, but also make an immediate mark on the worldwide map.
When the elder Le Pen, a longtime right-wing crackpot, advanced to the final round of voting against Jacques Chirac in 2002, virtually the entire French political world rallied to Chirac's side.
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"This result is historic". She has attempted to soften the party's tone and brought big gains in the 2015 regional elections.
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"What is at stake is the survival of France", she said, calling on voters to "choose borders that protect France's identity".
While insisting that Macron "does not belong to the left" Hamon said he made "a clear distinction between a political adversary and an enemy of the Republic" - referring to Macron and Le Pen respectively.
Marine Le Pen is 48.
Admitting defeat, François Fillon, whose campaign was rocked by corruption allegations, said there was "no other choice" but to vote for Mr Macron.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon: The far-left candidate is skeptical of both North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the European Union and surged in the polls late on, campaigning via hologram and coming within striking distance of the runoff.
Choosing inside the system is no longer an option for French voters, who rejected the two mainstream parties that have alternated power for decades in favor of Le Pen and the untested Macron, who has never held elected office and who founded his own political movement just a year ago.
He endured a hard night, forecast to win just 6%.
France's 10 percent unemployment, its lackluster economy and security issues topped concerns for the country's 47 million eligible voters.
Almost 60,000 police and soldiers were deployed across the country to secure polling, with France still reeling from the shooting of a policeman on the Champs Elysees.
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