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Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has won the Mexican presidential election.

Lopez Obrador, better known by his initials AMLO, will be the first candidate from the left-wing political coalition Juntos Haremos Historia to hold the Mexican presidency after Sunday's election.

A late-night official quick count from electoral authorities forecast that Mr Lopez Obrador would win with between 53 and 53.8 per cent of the vote, a remarkable margin not seen in the country for many years.

His rivals, José Antonio Meade of the long-dominant centrist PRI party and Ricardo Anaya of the center-right PAN, both conceded the election shortly after polls closed.

US President Donald Trump congratulated Lopez Obrador in a tweet late Sunday: 'Congratulations to Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on becoming the next President of Mexico. I look very much forward to working with him. There is much to be done that will benefit both the United States and Mexico!'

Lopez Obrador, 64, has fiercely opposed Trump's policies on immigration, saying it is 'a human right' for people around the world to be able to resettle in America.

First Sighting: Newly elected Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador waves to his supporters from a hotel after winning general elections in Mexico City on Sunday

Newly elected Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador waves to his supporters from a car as he makes his way to a victory rally after winning the election

AMLO (left in car) waves to his supporters from a Volkswagon after winning general elections

Newly elected Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador waves to his supporters from a car after winning general elections in Mexico City

A supporter takes a selfie with AMLO outside of a 7 Eleven convenience store after the leftist candidate won Mexico's presidency by a landslide 

Rivals José Antonio Meade (left) of the long-dominant PRI and Ricardo Anaya (right) of the center-right PAN, both conceded the election shortly after polls closed

Trump tweeted his congratulations shortly after is became clear AMLO would win

'Soon, very soon, after the victory of our movement, we will defend migrants all over the American continent and the migrants of the world who, by necessity, must abandon their towns to find life in the United States; it's a human right we will defend,' Lopez Obrador said in a June speech reported by El Universal.

The first high-level contact between Lopez Obrador and the White House is likely to be a phone call on Monday. Earlier on Sunday, Trump raised the prospect of taxing cars imported from Mexico if there are tensions with the new government. 

On Sunday at around midnight, a triumphant Lopez Obrador appeared before the thronging crowds in Mexico City's main public square to declare victory. 

'Today one stage has ended and we are going to begin another one - we are going to transform Mexico!' he said. 

Lopez Obrador reiterated his support for migrants and said the most forgotten and humble people of Mexico will be given preference in his government. 

He said he will seek a relationship of 'friendship and respect' with the United States. And rather than the use of force to fight spiraling violence, he will look to fix root causes such as inequality and poverty.

'Peace and tranquility are the fruits of justice,' Lopez Obrador said.

Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, accompanied by his wife Beatriz Gutierrez Muller, delivers his victory speech, in Mexico City's main square, the Zocalo

AMLO cheers his supporters at the Zocalo Square after winning general elections

Tens of thousands pack Mexico City's main square, the Zocalo, as Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador delivers his victory speech

He also said individual and property rights would be guaranteed, promised respect for the autonomy of the Bank of Mexico and said his government will maintain financial and fiscal discipline.

'There will be no confiscation or expropriation of assets. ... Eradicating corruption will be the principal mission,' he said. 

Earlier Sunday night, Lopez Obrador's supporters wildly celebrated his apparent overwhelming presidential win even before authorities released official results.

Thousands of people poured into Mexico City's sprawling main square, known as the Zocalo, where the former mayor had called on his backers to rally after polls closed.

Retired Susana Zuniga beamed as she said the country was experiencing a moment similar to the Mexican Revolution a century ago.

In her words: 'The people are fed up, that is what brought us to this.'

Motorists cruised up and down the central Paseo de la Reforma honking horns to the tune of 'Viva Mexico!' and waving Mexican flags from car windows and moonroofs.

The election represents a resounding defeat for outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto's PRI, which has ruled Mexico for all but 12 of the last 89 years. 

AMLO supporters celebrate at the Zocalo square in Mexico City, after getting the preliminary results of the general elections on Sunday

Thousands of people poured into Mexico City's sprawling main square to celebrate the win

Supporters of Lopez Obrador celebrate at the Zocalo square in Mexico City

Supporters of presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador react outside a hotel while waiting for the presidential election results in downtown Mexico City

AMLO supporters celebrate at the Zocalo square.  Anti-establishment leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador won Mexico's presidential election Sunday by a large margin, exit polls show

The election results included votes from many among the estimated 12million Mexican citizens residing in the US.  

In Tijuana, hundreds of Mexicans living in California drove for hours on Sunday to cross the border and vote for Lopez Obrador as president, persuaded by his pledges to stand up to Trump.

Lining up under the hot sun at Tijuana polling booths, many Mexican voters who had crossed the border from California told Reuters that they trusted Lopez Obrador most to protect Mexicans living in the United States.

'This man is the only one who can make Trump end his persecution and racism against Mexicans,' said Luis Evans, 58, who drove from Los Angeles to a voting booth about a mile from the border.

'If there's not a change in Mexico with Andres Manuel, then God help us.'

Mexicans living in the US cast their vote at a polling station in Tijuana, Mexico on Sunday

Many among the 12million Mexican citizens living in the US participated in the election. Pictured are voters in Tijuana who crossed the border from the US to vote

More than 181,000 people also registered to vote from abroad, three times as many in the last election under a new policy allowing sign-ups at local consulates rather than in Mexico. The National Electoral Institute said 98,854 of them mailed ballots by Saturday, more than twice the amount of Mexicans abroad that voted in the last election. 

Josefina Serrano, 44, who rode eight hours to Tijuana from Sacramento on a bus organized for voters, said she voted for Lopez Obrador because she was tired of corruption and violence in Mexico, as well an anti-Mexican attitude in the United States.

'I came because I want things to change, and to shut up even President Trump,' she said. 'Living in the United States, you're called out for being Mexican - not just by Trump, but by everyone. They think we're all corrupt.' 

The runner-up in the 2006 and 2012 presidential elections, Lopez Obrador pitched himself as the only one capable of cleaning up the government after years of poor economic growth and rampant gang violence eroded faith in the political class.

Seeking support from economic nationalists, leftist liberals and social conservatives, Lopez Obrador has been vague on policy details. But he vows to reduce inequality, improve pay and welfare spending and run a tight budget.

Lopez Obrador was by no means the only candidate to lambaste Trump, with all three contenders signaling their opposition to the US president.

But his rivals warned that a victory by leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador could set the country back decades with an interventionist economic policy.   

The leftist presidential candidate of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, casts his ballot on Sunday in Mexico City

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador waves after voting as part of the Mexico 2018 Presidential Election on Sunday. His thumb was inked as a measure against double voting

Voters fill in their ballots at a polling station during the presidential election in Nezahualcoyotl, on the outskirts of Mexico City, on Sunday

Lopez Obrador has said he wants to broker a deal with Trump under which Mexico would work to rein in illegal immigration  in return for economic support. 

'With all my heart, I want today's election to take place without violence,' Lopez Obrador said before voting in the south of Mexico City after a campaign marked by mud-slinging between presidential candidates over tit-for-tat graft allegations.

He added: 'As soon as the election is over, we will begin a period of national reconciliation.' 

Lopez Obrador faces a tougher security situation than did President Enrique Pena Nieto. The election campaign has been the bloodiest in recent history and murders are at record highs.

His railing against the 'mafia of power' that has long ruled Mexico and in favor of the poor appears to be falling on receptive ears with polls showing him with a wide lead over three rivals who have failed to ignite voters' interest.

'The corrupt regime is coming to its end,' Lopez Obrador said at his final campaign event Wednesday.

'We represent modernity forged from below.'

Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador waves to supporters at his closing campaign rally in Mexico City