Macron opened his "great national debate" in January, taking part in a series of long question-and-answer sessions with local officials and voters.

The stamina-busting programme began after the centrist president, who swept to power with a promise of implementing major change in France, was buffeted by sometimes violent street protests against social inequality by opponents known as the yellow vests.

The protests started over fuel taxes but snowballed into a national revolt against Macron's governing style and pro-business policies.

The debate on the Mediterranean island was a symbolic but tough 15th and final destination for the debates, with his trip already shadowed by a boycott from nationalists who want greater autonomy for Corsica.

Corsica has also in the last weeks seen an upsurge in small-scale bomb attacks which have which fanned fears of a return to darker days which saw thousands of bombings from the 1970s to the early 2000s.

That violence reached its peak with the shooting dead of the French prefect of Corsica, Claude Erignac, in February 1998.

Backed by a large security detail, Macron travelled by road the 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the main city of Ajaccio to the mountain village of Cozzano where the debate was held, stopping off to visit a local sausage maker on the way.

But frustrated that their demands for greater autonomy for Corsica appear not to have been heard, Gilles Simeoni, the nationalist head of Corsican regional government, and regional assembly speaker Jean-Guy Talamoni decided to boycott the Cozzano meeting.

And only 200 mayors out of the 360 invited were present.

Nationalists in Corsica have long insisted on three major demands -- autonomy, obligatory Corsican language lessons at schools, and the return of nationalist prisoners held on mainland France.

But Macron wants to shift the debate to the daily issues on the island as well as smaller changes, such as making Corsican a possible subject in the French curriculum and inscribing the specificity of Corsica in the French constitution.

In a stern message to Corsican nationalists, the president said: "Corsicans deserve better than trench warfare" and rebuked the nationalists for not expressing "regret" over Erignac's murder.

Macron's nationwide debates have had mixed reviews, with the president seeking to shed his aloof image by listening studiously, taking copious notes and responding intently to questions.

At a meeting in Paris in March, he surpassed even his own stamina records by talking for eight hours and 10 minutes, finishing at 2:30 am.

But it remains to be seen what concrete measures might emerge from the exercise, with the presidency promising the first steps in the middle of the month.