According to reaction on social media, the ticketing site, run by AXM on behalf of Stockhom Globe Arenas, buckled under the strain when it opened at 10am Central European Time.

One Facebook user wrote: “Have been in the queue since it opened, and waited 1.5 hours and then it was sold out.”

The site’s problems meant that customers who were held in queues for long periods of time would be suddenly thrown out of the system and made to start all over again.

The Local spoke to one Eurovision fan who said: “The site is a mess – I’ve been trying to buy tickets for a semi-final since this morning but the site just doesn’t seem to work. It says there are tickets available but when I try to buy them the site won't let me. I’m giving up now.”

Daniel Stålbo, the communications director at the Stockholm Globe Arenas, where the event is taking place next May, told the Aftonbladet tabloid: “There has been heavy pressure on the site. There always is pressure, but this time it was extra.”

Stockholm won the honour to host next year's song contest this summer after an intense battle for the crown between Sweden's biggest cities. The capital's mayor Karin Wanngård said at the time: “Our city is boiling with activity that revolves around music. Creativity is in our hearts.”

The final will take place in the city's iconic Globe Arena, but for dress rehearsals, semi-finals and other Eurovision-themed events the other three arenas right next to the spherical building (Hovet, Annexet and Tele2) will also be used for the nine shows in total.