Strictly Come Dancing fans were left disgruntled during the show’s live final after facing technical problems while voting online.

Viewers used Twitter to complain about being unable to support their favourite act of the evening – either Kelvin Fletcher, Karim Zeroual or Emma Barton – with many saying they were being told they had reached their “maximum number of votes allowed” despite not having cast a vote.

Voters were advised twice during the show by the programme’s official Twitter account to vote by phone.

“We are experiencing a very high volume of votes this evening,” a post from the BBC programme said.

“If you are having any difficulties voting online remember you can vote by phone, the numbers are all on http://bbc.co.uk/strictly.”

Large numbers of Strictly fans were seen complaining on the social media platform about being unable to vote, with many posting screengrabs of what they could see.

One viewer shared an image of the voting screen bearing the words: “Thank you for voting. The winner will be revealed at the end of tonight’s live show so keep watching!

“You have reached the maximum number of votes allowed.”

The viewer tweeted: “@SCD2019UK I just tried to vote online it said thanks for voting you’ve used the maximum amount of votes , I NEVER VOTED!!!

“I’m getting really sick of fixed result speculations but now I see why #votefixing #BBCStrictly.”

Another viewer wrote: “For goodness sake @bbcstrictly the voting is screwed up AGAIN! #BBCStrictly.”

“Has anyone else had trouble voting on line?” another asked, adding: “Managed 1 vote then said I’d reached maximum? #BBCStrictly.”

One fan said: “Oh what a surprise! Online voting is a complete mess again! #BBCStrictly.”

Former Emmerdale star Fletcher, children’s TV presenter Zeroual and EastEnders actress Barton were competing to win the series and lift the Glitterball Trophy.