Jakarta governor Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo is on track to become Indonesia’s seventh president after more than 180 million voters cast their ballots in the country’s presidential election.

But his rival, former general Prabowo Subianto, is refusing to accept defeat in early counting, despite a clear trend in sample results indicating Mr Widodo is in the lead.

Exit polls showed Mr Widodo ahead of ex-general Prabowo Subianto after the polls closed at 1pm local time.

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Mr Widodo’s Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) declared victory, with party leader Megawati Sukarnoputri saying her candidate had won based on a quick count of votes.

A Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) exit poll showed Mr Widodo at 45.1 per cent and Mr Subianto at 42.2 per cent, based on interviews with 8,000 respondents across the country, CSIS political analyst Tobias Basuki told Reuters.

Indonesians queue to cast their vote. Photo: Getty

“We are not making a call at this point because too many respondents did not disclose, but we can say Jokowi is leading,” Mr Basuki said.

An exit poll quick count carried out by pollster Kompas showed Mr Widodo in front by seven points.

Wednesday’s elections were a massive undertaking, with 185 million voters lodging their votes across 6,000 inhabited islands.

A national public holiday was declared to allow people to vote in 470,000 polling booths across the nation.

Before election day, polls showed Mr Subianto, a former Suharto-era general who is accused of human rights violations, almost closing the gap on Mr Widodo.

What does it mean for Australia?

The election comes at a time when Australia is yet to fully resolve tensions over spying and asylum seeker boat turn-backs.

Experts warn the relationship with Australia is likely to be more difficult, as both candidates are more nationalist than outgoing president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

“Look at how Jokowi, Joko Widodo, makes his campaign – he presents himself as a humble leader, more people oriented.”

Professor Aleksius Jemadu, dean of political sciences at Pelita Harapan University in Jakarta, says voters are weighing up two distinctly different styles.

“Look at how Jokowi, Joko Widodo, makes his campaign – he presents himself as a humble leader, more people oriented,” Professor Jemadu said.

But there was also a sense that some Indonesians wanted a firmer hand after a decade of Mr Yudhoyono in power.

“In the Prabowo campaign, the emphasis is on high-profile, the leader of a strong nation. There’s a lot to be proud of in Indonesia and that’s why he emphasises more on the nationalistic overtones of his campaign of his foreign policy as well,” Professor Jemadu said.

Prabowo Subianto addresses the media. Photo: Getty

Associate Professor Greg Fealy from the Australian National University says that whoever wins, Australia’s relationship with Indonesia is set to become trickier.

“I think it’s going to require the Australian Government to rethink its approach to Indonesia and it’s going to have to factor in the likelihood that a future Indonesian government is far less likely to forgive Australia,” Professor Fealy said.

“Neither of the two candidates in the current presidential election in Indonesia are as statesman-like and both of them have a far more overtly nationalist agenda and so that is likely to spell trouble if Australia is perceived as acting unilaterally or being heedless of Indonesia’s desires.

“[Joko Widodo] is a more stable person in his personality and he’s more pragmatic and I think more measured in his approach to difficult policy issues … Prabowo Subianto is a much more difficult person to predict because his range of behaviour is far wider and he’s extremely temperamental.”