The winger scored three times in the space of 25 minutes in the first half to send the 2018 champion and 2022 runner-up into the knockout phase of this year’s tournament with a spring in its step.

The France players had promised to go for a win as a tribute to coach Didier Deschamps, who has flown home from the tournament to attend the funeral of his mother.

Les Bleus, like Norway, had made sure of aplace in the Round of 32 before this clash but wanted to top the group to take advantage of a lighter travel schedule.

Their task was made easier by Norway coach Stale Solbakken’s decision to rest all but one of the players who started against Senegal earlier this week, including goal-scoring machine Erling Haaland and captain Martin Odegaard.

France went on the attack from the kick-off. Kylian Mbappe, who is likely to be challenging Haaland for the tournament's golden boot, slammed an angled shot off the bar with barely 20 seconds on the clock.

Six minutes later Mbappe swept a glorious cross-field pass to Dembele, who cut inside and then outside a defender before blasting an angled shot past goalkeeper Egil Selvik.

Mbappe fed Dembele again in the 20th minute and the Paris Saint-Germain forward gained a yard of space against his marker once again to score with a dipping shot.

Norway pulled a goal back almost immediately through Thelo Aasgaard before Dembele became only the third France player to score a FIFA World Cup hat-trick after Just Fontaine and Mbappe by curling a low shot into the bottom corner in the 32nd minute.

It was the second-earliest hat-trick scored at a FIFA World Cup behind Erich Probst, who scored three goals for Austria in 1954 against Czechoslovakia after 24 minutes.

Jorgen Strand Larsen blew a chance to get Norway back into the game early in the second half when his soft penalty was saved by Mike Maignan.

Winger Oscar Bobb forced Maignan into another save as the Scandinavian side exposed some vulnerability in its opponent's backline before Desire Doue got France’s fourth with a header from a cross by substitute Bradley Barcola in the dying moments.

By finishing top of Group I, France is likely to meet Sweden in the first knockout round of the tournament. As runner-up, Norway will play Cote d'Ivoire.