Hillary Clinton's lead over Donald Trump in the popular count of the US presidential election has increased to two million votes, BBC news reports.

Republican President-elect Trump won the election by winning a majority of the electoral college votes, and he will be inaugurated in January.

But with votes still being counted, two weeks on, the Cook Political Report has his tally at 62.2m and hers at 64.2m. It is the fifth time the winner of the popular vote has lost the election.

In 2000, Democrat Al Gore's final lead over George W Bush, who won the election after a prolonged legal challenge, was nearly 544,000.

The Supreme Court ultimately decided that election by awarding Bush a win in the contested state of Florida.

This year, Republican President-elect Trump won the election by winning a majority of the electoral college votes, and he will be inaugurated in January.

Clinton scored large tallies in states like California but Trump won most of the so-called swing states, which ultimately decide the outcome of elections.

The electoral college system favours candidates who win by a small margin in lots of states over ones that win by a landslide in just a few.