Greece’s leftist Syrtis party held onto its opinion poll lead on Friday as it campaigns to form the first eurozone government committed to scrapping austerity outright after elections this weekend.

With the fate of Greece’s €240 billion bailout from the EU and IMF unclear, Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras rejected any suggestion that Athens was under pressure to come to terms with its creditors by the end of next month.

All polls show Syriza in the lead and inching towards the numbers needed for outright victory as its message of cancelling austerity and securing a debt write-off attracts Greeks hit by four years of wage and pension cuts.

“Light has won over darkness. Victory and a majority are within our grasp,” Tsipras told supporters at his final campaign rally in Crete.

Among the final surveys published before today’s snap election, two showed Syriza’s lead over the conservative New Democracy Party of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras widening, while another showed it narrowing slightly.

According to an Alco poll, Syriza has 32.9 per cent support, giving it a 6.6 point lead – up from 5.2 points in a survey by the same pollster on Wednesday. Surveys by Kapa research and MRB for Star TV put the difference between the parties at 2.9 and 5.2 points respectively.

Greece took the bailout in two stages from 2010 after plunging into a debt crisis which took it to the brink of bankruptcy, casting doubt on its membership of the eurozone and the very future of the monetary union.

A man holding a Greek flag walks on central Syntagma square as the Parliament is seen in the background, in Athens yesterday. Greece's snap national election will be held today. Photo: Marko Djurica/Reuters

The economy has pulled out of its free-fall but the chance of a victory by Syriza has again raised tensions on financial markets and with other eurozone governments. While some European leaders have called for policies promoting growth, they have not done away entirely with austerity as Syriza promises to do.

In Brussels, a senior eurozone official said Athens would have to ask for a new extension to its eurozone bailout programme before €1.8 billion in aid can be paid, and stressed a new government must first be in place to do so.

Greece’s programme with the eurozone expires on February 28. Although the IMF will continue to back Athens, the country needs to be under a European accord to receive the final eurozone loans and to be eligible for support from the European Central Bank.

Light has won over darkness. Victory and a majority are within our grasp

Tsipras dismissed suggestions that Athens had to complete a bailout review by then, saying a government led by his party would have until July to negotiate with its creditors.

On the final day of campaigning, he said a plan by the ECB to boost the eurozone economy by buying government bonds set the timeframe for the talks. Greece will not be eligible for the ECB programme, unveiled on Thursday, until July.

“Yesterday’s announcement sets the timeframe for the negotiations and this timeframe is by July – the same timeframe we have set – and not February 28,” he told a news conference.

It remains unclear how a Syriza-led government would be able to ensure Greek banks have access to ECB funding and its bond-buying after February 28 in such a case, given that both are dependent on Greece staying under a supervised aid programme.