The census website was shut down after being attacked by foreign hackers, the Australian Bureau of Statistics says.
'It was an attack,' chief statistician David Kalisch told ABC radio on Wednesday.
'It was quite clear it was malicious.' The ABS is now working with the Australian Signals Directorate to determine the source of the attack.
Mr Kalisch said so far it had been very difficult to work out where it came from.
In the past Australian government websites have been attacked by Chinese hackers.
A number of digital assaults on the census website began during the day on Tuesday and were repelled.
But the frequency increased as the evening neared and many Australians trying to reach the census site after 7pm couldn't connect.
It was at this point the ABS said it began the process of shutting down the site.
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