Germans in the state of Brandenburg were voting in a regional election on Sunday with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) expected to finish first, building on successes in other eastern states and beating Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats in one of their traditional strongholds.

Germany's Social Democrats won in the eastern state of Brandenburg, pushing out the far-right AfD in a tightly contested race.

The ruling SPD has just scraped by in a critical electoral test, but a closer look at the numbers show trouble for next year's elections.