The deadline for registering to vote in the EU referendum has been extended, the government has said.

It follows a technical glitch which left some people unable to sign up before the original midnight deadline on Tuesday.

Members of the public now have until the end of Thursday  to register in order to vote on June 23.

Not too late: The deadline for voter registration has been extended until midnight on Thursday

Shortly after 10.15pm last night, some people trying to register, reported a page displaying the message “504 Gateway Time-out” instead of the online registration form.

The government blamed “unprecedented demand” and said half a million people tried to register to vote on Tuesday.

Shortly after 11am this morning, The Cabinet Office had Tweeted: “We are urgently considering what the options are for those who were unable to register to vote last night.”

Computer says no: Some users of the government website reported seeing an error message when trying to register

Members of the public took to Change.org to start petitions calling for more time for people to register.

Writing on his petition, Sunny Hundal said: “This is the biggest decision facing the British people for over a generation. Every person who wants to vote should be given the opportunity, not denied it.

Leave or remain? Members of the public now have until the end of Thursday to register

“It doesn’t matter whether people are for or against the EU, everyone deserves a chance to have their say.”

Another petition started by Sean Buchan had called for a 48 hour extension. He wrote: “The deadline to register to vote was midnight. The site was mostly down from 10.15pm to midnight.”

According to the government’s data website, 525,000 people applied to register to vote during the day – 170,000 were aged 25 to 34, 132,000 under the age of 25 and 100,000 aged 35 to 44.

To register to vote in the EU referendum go to gov.uk/register-to-vote