A French court has suspended a ban on full-body burkini swimsuits to give it more time to make a definitive ruling.

The Conseil d'Etat, the nation's highest administrative court, delivered the temporary ruling following a request from the League of Human Rights.

The burkini ban had outraged Muslims and anti-Islamophobia groups and opened divisions within the government.

The ban had been put in place in the Mediterranean town of Villeneuve-Loubet on the grounds it contravenes civil liberties.

Under the French legal system, temporary decisions can be handed down to give the court more time to prepare a permanent judgment.

Several coastal towns in the south east and north of the country, including Nice and Le Touquet, had banned the body-covering swimwear.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was the most recent high profile figure to enter the debate, branding the swimsuits a "provocation" that supports radicalised Islam.