Joko Widodo will be named Indonesia's president-elect after his rival dramatically quit the race, claiming "massive and systematic cheating".
The country's electoral commission on Tuesday afternoon finished counting more than 130 million eligible votes and was ready to give the election to Jakarta's governor.
Widodo has won the Indonesian presidential election with 53 percent of the vote against about 47 percent for ex-general Prabowo Subianto, according to a tally of final results cited by local media Tuesday.
The news came just hours after Prabowo announced he was withdrawing from the election process in the world's third-biggest democracy, claiming his opponent had committed massive fraud.
The official announcement of the result of the July 9 election was expected shortly.
Hours before the declaration, which had already been predicted by several credible surveys to the order of 53 per cent, rival candidate Prabowo Subianto rejected the election process.
The ex-general said he and his vice presidential candidate would exercise their right to reject the "legally tainted" election.
"With this, we withdraw ourselves from the ongoing process," he said.
Consequently, his coalition's witnesses walked out of Indonesia's electoral commission, where tallying was in its final stages.
More than 3000 riot police were fortifying the building in central Jakarta, with supporters of the divergent camps urged to stay at home.
The close result and polarising nature of the candidates raised fears of riots, particularly for Jakarta residents with memories of the trouble that came with the fall of former president Suharto in 1998.
Mr Joko, known better as Jokowi, was on one of his trademark "blusukan" - impromptu visits - at a Jakarta dam when chaos was breaking out in the opposition coalition.
"I'm sure Prabowo, as a statesman, will put the national interest above all," Mr Joko told the Jakarta Globe newspaper.
The formality caps a remarkable rise for Mr Joko, 53, whose journey from bamboo shack to president has shaken Indonesia's establishment and inspired millions of ordinary citizens.
As mayor of the central Java city of Solo and governor of Jakarta, he has been lauded as a hands-on reformist.
His vice president will be the experienced Jusuf Kalla, 72, who was President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's VP during his first term.
Mr Joko is tipped to retain Dr Yudhoyono's foreign policy flavour.
In a debate during the campaign, he spoke up for strengthening people-to-people links with Australia to build trust and respect for Indonesia.
It was unclear on Tuesday whether Mr Prabowo, 62, was reserving his right to challenge the election in the constitutional court.
Most analysts doubt he would have the grounds to succeed.
There was also speculation of repercussions for Mr Prabowo personally with pundits pointing to a little-known electoral law that could see him face up to five years' jail and fined up to Rp50 billion ($A4.6 million) for withdrawing from the race.
The former son-in-law of Suharto was popular with voters feeling some nostalgia for the past and who liked his strong nationalist rhetoric.
But he was also dogged by claims of human rights abuses from his time in East Timor and in the chaos that came with the collapse of Suharto.
Dr Yudhoyono on Monday hinted that the losing party on Tuesday should accept defeat graciously.
"Admitting defeat is noble. Congratulating the winner is noble," he said in a speech, according to reports.
Mr Joko is expected to be inaugurated on October 20.
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