UPDATED: 11.29AM Opposition parties have reacted to the decision to keep the current New Zealand flag.

The referendum saw the existing national flag win 56.6 per cent of the vote, compared to 43.2 per cent for the silver fern flag.

The total number of votes received was 2,124,507 – a turnout of 67.3 per cent.

READ MORE: New Zealand has rejected a new flag

Of those, just 0.23 per cent were informal votes and 0.21 per cent were invalid votes.

In total, 1,200,003 people voted for the current flag. That was a winning margin of around 285,000 votes.

Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said the problem was it had been a personal project for John Key and not an inclusive one for everyone.

"John Key needs to reflect on the failure and why it failed so badly. He never intended, in my view, for it to be a flag that represented the whole country but one really that he wanted to see as part of his legacy."

Labour Leader Andrew Little slated the Prime Minister's performance on the flag referendum.

Mr Little said at every stage of the process John Key screwed the scrum in favour of his flag and made his desire for a fern flag known from the start.

Mr Little said a lot of people are annoyed that it was a "process that has been flawed from the outset."

The Labour leader believes the country won't revisit a debate on our flag until after the death of the Queen.

He said that's the time we ought to have a debate about our national identity, not based on whether we should have a silver fern representing us, and not based on what any particular politician from particular party says.

Mr Little said it's got to be a genuine national debate without any pre-determined outcome

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the vote was a distraction issue, but voters weren't fooled.

"He made a flippant comment at a press conference about the flag and then decided to turn it into a major diversion at a time when there was serious economic concerns."

Peters said the vote to keep the current flag was seen as a vote of no confidence in the entire process.

Prime Minister John Key said he is disappointed with the flag result and that the National Government will not revisit the issue under his leadership.

Mr Key, speaking to reporters at Auckland Airport this evening, said that he respected New Zealand’s choice of flag.

He took some positives from the result, pointing out that nearly 1 million people will have voted for change by the time the final results came in.

Mr Key also defended the process, saying it was lengthy and considered.

Asked whether the referendum process had been worth $26 million given it led to no change, he said it had sparked an “enormous”, healthy debate across the country.

“You can’t shy away from a debate or a discussion about nationhood,” he said.

Just because the referendum did not produce the outcome he wanted “doesn’t mean it wasn’t a worthwhile process”.

Despite launching the referendum and strongly advocating for a flag change, Mr Key said he did not think the defeat would be a black mark on his legacy.

But he would not be revisiting the flag issue.

“It certainly won’t come back to Parliament while I’m the Prime Minister.

“I’m certainly not a fan of becoming a Republic … so that’s a decision for a future government to make.”

Mr Key said the flag referendum was democracy in action, and that made it money well spent.

"It would be very easy for me to get up and get 61 votes in Parliament and change the flag. But I don't believe in that, I think that's an arrogant approach to constitutional issues. I don't believe you should do that".

The silver fern lapel pin he has worn during the referendum will be put away – but he will not be throwing it out.

“I will be keeping that one,” he said.

World champion cyclist Alison Shanks voted for change and said she's really disappointed with the result.

She said as an athlete and a New Zealander travelling around the world, she constantly sees the country represented by a silver fern.

She said we've lost an opportunity by not having the courage to put one on the national flag.

Former broadcaster Bill Ralston believes he'll be dead before New Zealand next holds a flag referendum.

He was in favour of a change.

The chairman of the Flag Consideration Panel believes the result would have been similar, if one of the other designs had won the first vote.

Professor John Burrows said there's no such thing as a flag everybody will like.

"And people's tastes differ very widely and I suspect, whatever alternative flag you had, you would have had a result like this in the second referendum".

Burrows said through the referendum people have gained a full appreciation of what a flag means to them, and how much they love their country.

He said the cost objection is something he's heard a lot of.

The Flag Consideration Panelist said even though $26 million isn't a huge amount in comparison with the Government's overall spend, it still seems a lot to most people.

However, Burrows doesn't see how it could be done more cheaply if the process is going to be a democratic one.

RSA chief David Moger said the debate has brought about increased pride in the flag.

He said on his travels around the country throughout the process, he's seen more flags flying than ever before.

"I think that's really positive I'd like to see that continue and I'd like to all those flag poles flying one flag, which is our flag".

Moger said he's been overwhelmed by the strength of support for the current flag.

The silver fern flag has already been taken down from Auckland's Harbour Bridge.

It's expected it'll also be removed from public buildings this week.

About 250 of the silver fern flags were distributed to council buildings, airports and ports.