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Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah (C) speaks with fellow candidate Zalmai Rassoul during a joint press conference in Kabul on May 11, 2014.

Full results from the April 5 election were released late last month, but the final declaration will include the outcome of weeks of deliberation over fraud complaints.

The preliminary results showed Abdullah secured 44.9 per cent of the first-round vote, with Ghani on 31.5 per cent.

As none of the eight candidates appear to have gained more than 50 per cent, a run-off between the two leading names is required as Afghanistan undergoes its first democratic transfer of power.

Noor Mohammad Noor, spokesman for the Independent Election Commission, said it hoped to stick with the election timeline and publish the final results on Wednesday.

"If there is to be a run-off, we will announce the date on the same day," he told AFP.

Afghan officials and Kabul-based diplomats say June 14 has been pencilled in for the head-to-head election that will choose President Hamid Karzai's successor as US-led troops withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of the year.

On Monday, front-runner Abdullah received a major boost with the endorsement of third-placed Zalmai Rassoul, a close ally of Karzai.

Rassoul was seen as the favoured candidate of the outgoing president, but his own campaign gained little momentum and he took just 11.5 percent in the first round of voting.

Another costly, and potentially violent, election could be avoided by deal-making in the coming weeks, and Rassoul's support for Abdullah will increase pressure on Ghani to concede.

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Afghanistan Election Result to Trigger Tense Run-Off