It took less than 30 minutes for users on Twitter to break a law preventing the premature publication of election results, a move that propelled the topic to become a trending topic on the global social network.

Tweets marked with the hashtag #tweettheresults were posted online as polling stations began to report in Newfoundland and Labrador -- but before polls had closed from Quebec to British Columbia.

A user living in Australia was one of the first to tweet results he says were sent to him over email at about 7:25 p.m. ET

"Results via email - I can't verify here in Oz: LIB 4 Con 2 in NL #tweettheresults

By 7:45 p.m. ET, several more users began posting results they had seen reported on their local TV screens.

"St. Johns TV station reporting: Lib 5, NDP 3, Con 1, BQ 0, GP 0 #tweettheresults #elxn41"

By 9 p.m. #tweettheresults was the top trending topic on Twitter in Canada, and the third in the world.

Twitter users in countries other than Canada were also offering to tweet results if they received an email containing the preliminary numbers.

Before the election, several users on Twitter called for a mass tweet-in protest of the results using the hashtag #tweettheresults.

As #tweettheresults caught on during the election campaign, a website was created to help the world follow along: Tweettheresults.ca.

The site, however, removed its aggregation feature from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

"To avoid a potential fine or protracted legal battle, we have taken this site offline for 3 hours," read a line of text on the site soon after polls began to close.

The partially shuttered site did track the number of tweets marked with #tweettheresults, reporting nearly 5,000 tagged updates at about 10 p.m.

Tweettheresults.ca was co-created by two Vancouver-based social media experts, Alexandra Samuel and Darren Barefoot, to highlight how the information blackout would be affected by social media.

Samuel, director of the social and interactive media centre at Emily Carr University, told CTV.ca that initially, users were wondering if the site had been censored by Elections Canada, but that wasn't the case.

"A lot of people were disappointed that we took it offline, but I think the vast majority expressed disappointment that we were in a country where we had to do that," Samuel said.

"The point for us was really about drawing attention to the issue and lending support to a conversation about the law."

Samuel said the site was designed to aggregate tweets with the hashtag #tweettheresults in a digital database, but servers had trouble keeping up with the volume of tweets during the night.

Before polls began to close, some users were coming up with ways to tweet the results without naming the particular party.

"Creative strategy proposed for how to #tweettheresults: using fruit as a code (blueberries, strawberries, oranges and apples," wrote a user with the handle @Brittanymaria

Election results weren't the only tweets being marked with the hashtag. Users added comedy to people's Twitter streams by discussing the results of the NHL playoff game between the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers using #tweettheresults.

Another common #tweettheresults update was "Darth Vader is Luke's father."

The law

Section 329 of the Canada Election Act prohibits the premature transmission of results.

The restriction on the premature reporting of results dates back to 1938, and was designed to ensure all voters went to the polling stations with the same information and would not be influenced by news of what had happened in other parts of the country.

Elections Canada has issued a warning that anyone who posts preliminary results on social media sites, such as Twitter or Facebook, may be slapped with a $25,000 fine.

However, infractions are investigated only if a complaint is lodged with the Commissioner of Canada Elections.

"The commissioner doesn't confirm or deny the presence of complaints," said Elections Canada spokesman James Hale.

Confusion started early

While candidates were not allowed to officially campaign on voting day, there was confusion early Monday about whether they could take to Twitter to urge supporters to get out and vote.

Around 9 a.m. ET, Gerard Kennedy, Liberal candidate for the Toronto riding of Parkdale-High Park, tweeted a thank you to his supporters with the additional message to "Please go out and vote today."

A couple of hours later, Kennedy tweeted that he had been "informed by Elections Canada we are not allowed to tweet today, so see you on the flip side."

Then around noon, Kennedy tweeted that a "party lawyer gave us the go a head to continue tweeting, so we're back."

Other candidates, such as Liberals Justin Trudeau and Michael Ignatieff, issued simple tweets to encourage Canadians to vote, while Conservative candidate Tony Clement, a prolific tweeter, remained quiet Monday.

Elections Canada spokesperson John Enright told CTV.ca in an email statement Monday that if an individual posts an online message promoting a party or candidate "on a non-commercial basis" -- meaning they are merely expressing their own personal political views -- then such a post does not flout election laws.

However, "The same message sent by a political party or another group or entity that is not an individual may constitute election advertising, if it promotes or opposes a party or candidate, or takes a position on an issue that is associated with a party or candidate."