France's caretaker prime minister Sebastien Lecornu sees a path to forming a new government, but that the "final stretch" would be difficult, adding that it was possible France could have a new premier in the next 48 hours.

Lecornu, France's fifth prime minister in two years, tendered his and his government's resignation on Monday, just hours after announcing the cabinet line-up, making it the shortest-lived administration in modern France.

But at President Emmanuel Macron's request, Lecornu has held further consultations with political leaders spanning the centre left to centre right in an effort to defuse the crisis and avoid snap parliamentary elections.

"I told the President of the Republic ... that I believe the situation allows for (him) to name a prime minister in the next 48 hou

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