Trump may have triumphed, but Hillary is winning the popular vote

Donald Trump may have secured an upset win over Hillary Clinton in the US presidential race but she could still emerge as the candidate who received more popular votes, media reports said.

As of Wednesday evening, hours after Clinton called Trump to concede, the former secretary of state clung to a narrow lead in the popular vote, 47.7 per cent to 47.5 per cent.

Clinton, the nominee of the Democratic Party had 59,755,284 votes, according to CNN's tally, with 92 per cent of the expected vote counted.

Trump, the Republican Party's nominee had polled 59,535,522 votes.

The difference of 219,762 is razor-thin considering the nearly 120 million votes counted so far. The totals will continue to change as absentee votes trickle in, the network reported.

It was a fascinating turn of events for Trump, who four years ago tweeted, "The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy," following Mitt Romney's loss in 2012.

If Clinton hangs on, she would become the first presidential candidate since Al Gore in 2000 to win the popular vote but lose the election, the report said.

Trump, who clinched the nomination by securing 270 Electoral College votes, currently leads Clinton 290-228, though Michigan and New Hampshire have yet to be called.

Prior to Gore's defeat to George W. Bush in 2000, three other candidates -- Andrew Jackson, Samuel Tilden and Grover Cleveland, all in the 19th century -- had won the popular vote and lost the election.

On Tuesday, with most polls showing Clinton with marginal but steady leads, Trump's chances of victory were seen as remote. The Electoral College map was considered favourable to Clinton, who was said to have several paths to the winning threshold of 270 electoral votes.

But Trump obliterated Clinton's firewall, picking off unexpected wins in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as well as sweeping swing states like North Carolina, Florida and Ohio.

• FULL COVERAGE: US ELECTION 2016

Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images