Current Netherlands' prime minister Mark Rutte performed better than expected, and anti-immigration challenger Geert Wilders worse than expected in Wednesday elections.

Totals are not final, and some media outlets still refer to exit polls, but with some returns in, Reuters proclaims Dutch PM Rutte on Course for Big Victory Over Far-rRght Wilders.

The Netherlands' center-right Prime Minister Mark Rutte was on course for a resounding victory over anti-Islam and anti-EU Geert Wilders in an election on Wednesday, offering huge relief to other EU governments facing a wave of nationalism.

"It appears that the VVD will be the biggest party in the Netherlands for the third time in a row," a beaming Rutte told cheering supporters at a post-election party in The Hague. "Tonight we'll celebrate a little."

Rutte received congratulatory messages from European leaders and spoke with some by telephone.

"It is also an evening in which the Netherlands, after Brexit, after the American elections, said 'stop' to the wrong kind of populism," he said.