More than 4.5 million website visits were registered during Tokyo 2020's second-chance Olympic ticket lottery for residents of Japan ©Tokyo 2020

More than 4.5 million website visits were registered during Tokyo 2020's second-chance Olympic ticket lottery for residents of Japan, which closed today.

Launched on August 8, the additional ballot was for those unsuccessful during the first lottery which was held between May 9 and 28.

A Tokyo 2020 spokesman confirmed to insidethegames that the number of visits on the website during the 11-day period was 4,580,000.

Nearly 700,000 tickets were available which were largely for first round and qualifying competitions.

People who did not apply at all during the first phase were not able to take part, alongside those who were allocated tickets in May.

The second lottery was announced by Tokyo 2020 due to the huge demand witnessed in the first phase.

More than 3.2 million tickets were sold but more than 7.5 million Japanese entered the ballot, meaning a huge number of people missed out.

The official ticketing website was visited more than 24.25 million times in May with traffic overwhelming the system. 

It prompted organisers to extend the application phase by 12 hours.

The sports with sessions available during the second lottery were athletics, baseball/softball, basketball, beach volleyball, canoe sprint, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, handball, hockey, modern pentathlon, mountain bike, rowing, rugby sevens, taekwondo, volleyball, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling.  

Fans were able to select one session as their first choice and one other session as their second choice. 

The second Olympic lottery was announced after huge demand first time around ©Getty Images
The second Olympic lottery was announced after huge demand first time around ©Getty Images

A maximum of four tickets could be bought for sessions which include medal events and there was a limit of six tickets for all other sessions.  

Those selected for tickets will be told on September 11 and payment will be due by September 24.

Tokyo 2020 initially estimated that 7.8 million tickets would be made available for the Olympic Games but it is thought the figure could rise to nine million, according to the Japan Times.

Organisers have also confirmed that a third lottery for Japanese residents will be held in the autumn. 

This will replace a first come, first served process that had been planned in the host country.

Details of this lottery will be announced in "due course".

A first come, first served phase will open in the spring of 2020 for fans both in Japan and abroad.

People living outside of Japan can now purchase tickets through authorised ticket resellers in their home countries, however, with that process beginning in June.

Paralympic sales will begin in Japan on Thursday (August 22).

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics will run between July 24 and August 9 with the Paralympics following between August 25 and September 6.