An exit poll is pointing to a triumph for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative allies in the Bavaria state election - just a week before Germany's national vote.

The ARD television exit poll showed the Merkel-allied Christian Social Union winning 49% of the vote.

That would be enough to win back an absolute majority in the state legislature that the CSU lost in 2008. But the poll gave Mrs Merkel's national government partners, the pro-market Free Democrats, only 3% support - meaning they would lose their seats.

Germany's main opposition parties, the Social Democrats, were a distant second with 21%.

Bavaria has long been a conservative stronghold. The CSU had pledged to provide momentum to Mrs Merkel's quest for a third term.

Mrs Merkel said she hopes for a "great result" from the CSU in Bavaria. In the national election, she said, "it will come down to every vote."

The campaign, she added, "will only be over when the polling stations close."