Canada's immigration website crashed several times overnight as Donald Trump increased his lead on the way to winning the US presidential election.

As he won a number of important swing states, the site was inaccessible - presumably due to the volume of traffic it was receiving.

Several people posted error messages on social media as they struggled to get onto the site.

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When we attempted to access the page at 8.30am this morning, we got a 404 page with messages in English and French.

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Bear Grylls//Digital Spy

As the votes were being counted, the official Canada Twitter feed posted a message in support of immigration to the country.

"In Canada, immigrants are encouraged to bring their cultural traditions with them and share them with their fellow citizens," it said.

A number of US-based Twitter users expressed a desire to move to Canada, where the Prime Minister is 44-year-old leader of the Liberal Party Justin Trudeau.

On Google, there was a spike in searches for "Move to Canada" between 4.30am and 5.30am, with most of the searches coming from the US.

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Bear Grylls//Digital Spy

But not every American is heading to the border.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the mastermind behind massive hit musical Hamilton, has pledged to stay in the country he loves and turn things around.

"F**k that," he said of the prospect of moving. "I love this country, and there's more work to do than ever. (No offense Canada)."

From: Digital Spy