Who does Hillary Clinton blame for her defeat?

Hillary Clinton has blamed FBI director James Comey for her stunning defeat in the US presidential election in a conference call with her top campaign funders, according to two participants on the call.

Clinton was projected by nearly every national public opinion poll as the heavy favourite going into Tuesday's race.

Instead, Republican Donald Trump won the election, shocking many throughout the nation and prompting widespread protests.

Hillary hugs a supporter after her concession speech. Source: Getty.
Hillary hugs a supporter after her concession speech. Source: Getty.

Clinton has kept a low profile since her defeat after delivering her concession speech on Wednesday morning.

On the phone call with supporters on Saturday, Clinton said her campaign and the national party had raised $US900 million ($A1.2 billion) from more than 3 million individual donors, according to the two participants who spoke to Reuters.

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Clinton said Comey was at fault for her loss after he decided to send a letter to Congress only days before the election announcing that he was reinstating an investigation into whether she mishandled classified information when she used a private email server while secretary of state from 2009 to 2012.

Comey announced a week later that he had reviewed emails and continued to believe she should not be prosecuted, but the political damage was already done.

Clinton told donors that Trump was able to seize on both of Comey's announcements and use them to attack her, according to two participants on the call.

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While the second letter cleared her of wrongdoing, Clinton said that reinforced to Trump's supporters that the system was rigged in her favour and motivated them to mobilise on Election Day.

Meanwhile, Trump has said he would consider seeking advice from Bill Clinton, just days after besting the former president's wife.

Trump received a call from Bill Clinton after the vote in which the former president "couldn't have been more gracious," the 70-year-old Republican billionaire said in excerpts of an interview released Friday by CBS.

The 2016 election result shocked the world. Image: Getty
The 2016 election result shocked the world. Image: Getty

The comments echo Trump's remarks after a meeting with President Barack Obama, when he said he looked "forward to dealing with the president in the future," including receiving Obama's counsel.

When asked whether he would seek the advice of Bill Clinton, Trump said "I would certainly think about that.

"He's a very talented guy, I mean, this is a very talented family," Trump said.

Trump said he would think about taking advice from Bill Clinton. Source: Getty.
Trump said he would think about taking advice from Bill Clinton. Source: Getty.

He also spoke of his Democratic rival's call acknowledging defeat following the vote.

"It was a lovely call, and it was a tough call for her, I mean, I can imagine. Tougher for her than it would have been for me. I mean, for me, it would have been very, very difficult. She couldn't have been nicer. She just said, 'Congratulations, Donald, well done,'" Trump said.

Donald Trump was elected on Wednesday. Image: Getty
Donald Trump was elected on Wednesday. Image: Getty

Earlier in the day, Trump made waves with an interview in the Wall Street Journal when he said he would consider an "amended" version of Obama's signature health care law -- a shift in position after repeatedly vowing on the campaign trail that he would repeal the measure.

He reiterated those comments in the CBS interview, stating that any repeal of the law would be accompanied by an immediate replacement.

"We're going to do it simultaneously... And we're not going to have, like, a two-day period and we're not going to have a two-year period where there's nothing," he said.