Hassan Rouhani has spoken about the need to re-engage with the West and has promised to free political prisoners
Early results from Iran's presidential election put the reformist-backed candidate, Hassan Rouhani, in the lead.
Official figures give him more than half the 12 million votes counted so far - well ahead of second-placed Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.
Mr Rouhani could win in the first round if he finishes with more than 50.1%.
Electoral officials said turnout was high among the 50 million Iranians eligible to vote on Friday for a successor to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
His eight years in power have been characterised by economic turmoil and Western sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.
Surge of supportFinal results are expected later in the day.
Preliminary figures began to emerge early on Saturday after a delay of several hours.
Officials at the election headquarters said that with more than 12 million votes counted (11.7 million of them being valid):
- Hassan Rouhani has 6,049,655
- Mr Qalibaf is in second place with 1,844,463
- Mohsen Rezai lies third with 1,518,964, followed by Saeed Jalili with 1,400,712.
Voting was extended until 23:00 local time (18:30 GMT) on Friday to allow more people to cast their ballots. Iranian Press TV said turnout was 80%.
Although all six candidates are seen as conservatives, analysts say Mr Rouhani - a 64-year-old cleric often described as "moderate" who has held several parliamentary posts and served as chief nuclear negotiator - has been reaching out to reformists in recent days.
The surge of support for him came after Mohammad Reza Aref, the only reformist candidate in the race, announced on Tuesday that he was withdrawing on the advice of pro-reform ex-President Mohammad Khatami.
Mr Rouhani thus went into polling day with the endorsement of two ex-presidents - Mr Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was disqualified from the race by the powerful Guardian Council, a 12-member body of theologians and jurists.
However, Mr Rouhani faced a tough challenge from hardline candidates, including Mr Qalibaf - who is seen as a pragmatic conservative - and nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili - who is said to be very close to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The other three candidates are Mohsen Rezai, a former head of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and former Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Gharazi.
Earlier, Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar told state TV that any presidential candidates unhappy with the results would have three days to lodge complaints to the Guardian Council.
'Intimidation'After the last presidential election in June 2009, millions of Iranians took to the streets to demand a re-run, when the supreme leader dismissed claims by the three defeated candidates of widespread fraud.
Voting was extended by five hours to accommodate the long queues of people who turned out to cast their ballot, as Kasra Naji reports
Two of them, former Prime Minister Mir Hussein Mousavi and senior cleric Mehdi Karroubi, became leaders of a nationwide opposition known as the Green Movement, after its signature colour.
They were placed under house arrested in February 2011 when they applied to stage a protest in support of the anti-government uprisings which were sweeping the Arab world. They are still being detained.
No foreign observers monitored this year's election and there have also been concerns that media coverage in the run-up has been unfair.
Many reformist newspapers have been shut down, access to the internet and foreign broadcasters has been restricted, and journalists have been detained.
On Thursday, the BBC accused the Iranian authorities of "unprecedented levels of intimidation" of BBC employees' families.
It said Iran had warned the families of 15 BBC Persian Service staff that they must stop working for the BBC or their lives in London would be endangered.
Tehran has so far made no comment on the allegation.
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