She also said that the elections – the first since the generals partially stepped back from power in 2011 after five decades of military dictatorship – were “not free” but were “fair” in a reference to reported irregularities anddirty tricks.

Defeated ex-officers have pledged they will accept the results, echoing comments by Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief, who guaranteed that the military would not reject them – as it did in 1990.

Unofficial talks are already underway between senior NLD officials and military and ruling party figures about the complicated political negotiations in coming months before the next parliament is seated next year.

The new batch of MPs will choose the president, a role from which Ms Suu Kyi is barred under the constitution as she has British sons.

Before the election, she angered the military’s allies by insisting that as the NLD’s leader, she would govern the country from a position “above the president”.

A huge crowd gathers outside the headquarters of National League of Democracy (NLD) party  Photo: AFP

Asked about the country's top job in the BBC interview, she said: "It's a name only, A rose by any other name."

But she again made clear that she would be the one running Burma. "We'll find one," she said of picking a president. "But that won't stop me from making all the decisions as the leader of the winning party."

Once the world’s famous political prisoner, she said the party would be dignified in its response to results – an apparent message that planned to avoid triumphalism.

She also pledged that her government will protect the country’s Muslim community and would prosecute those who inflame hatred.

Aung San Suu Kyi arrives at the NLD headquarters  Photo: EPA

Buddhist nationalist activists, including some firebrand monks, had whipped up anti-Muslim sentiments during a charged election campaign.

And Ms Suu Kyi had been criticised for not speaking out in defence of a persecuted Muslim minority, the Rohingya of Rakhine state where many are confined to squalid internment camps.

Her party needs to win two-thirds of the seats up for grabs to secure a simple majority in the new parliament as 25 per cent of the places are allocated for military appointees.

The armed forces will also appoint three key Cabinet positions – interior, defence and border affairs – under a military-drafted constitution that ensures its continuing influence.

"We are just beginning to teach the world about Burmese democracy,” she said during the interview in the garden of the lakeside villa where she spent 15 years under house arrest.