BURGER lovers of Melbourne have been turned away from a pop-up store just half an hour after it opened.

Cult American burger joint In-N-Out announced on Tuesday morning it was taking over Chapel Street restaurant Lover between 11am-3pm, selling world-famous double-doubles and animal fries.

But those who didn’t start queuing up before 11.15 were told: “Sorry, we’re out, but here’s a sticker.”

The queue, which spanned more than two blocks from the Windsor restaurant and finished outside houses on McIlwrick Street, moved slowly. Staff were letting only two or three people in at a time.

A woman named Christie lined up with her daughter for more than an hour to get a burger. She said she heard about the pop-up store at 9am this morning after finishing work at 7.30am.

She drove more than an hour from home on no sleep.

Paul and Dahlia live a lot closer but rolled out of bed quicker than usual after hearing the news. They arrived a bit before 11 and were two of the lucky few. It was their first time. Dahlia said she was a “massive burger fan” and it was “worth the queue”.

“Usually I wouldn’t wait for something this long but this is a bucket list type thing for me,” she said.

Those who paid $5 for the privilege of being one-of-300 to sample the fast-food phenomenon said it was worth the wait and lived up to the hype, but those who didn’t made the walk of shame back home or back to the office.

California native Dan Bui lives in Surry Hills and wanted a taste of home again. He was among the first to miss out, reminiscing about the so-called “best burgers in America”.

“It’s lettuce, tomato, onions, cheese. The ratio is perfect. The ingredients are fresh.”

Behind Dan in line was a man who quickly raced back to his ute after being delivered the bad news. He shouted: “I’ll pay $50 for anyone’s burger.”

Heartbreaking. One of the first to hear “sorry, we’re out” at In-N-Out pop-up in Melbourne. pic.twitter.com/Dz9LAOi0fq — Rohan Smith (@Ro_Smith) March 6, 2018

Jennifer and Monica made the walk from their office nearby and were turned away.

“I’m bummed,” Jennifer, a New Yorker living in Australia, told news.com.au. “It’s got this cult-like status and the best milkshakes.”

She said “clearly” 300 burgers is not enough to satisfy the demand. Monica agrees. “They did a pop-up in Sydney last year and I think all of Melbourne was devastated then. This was just, you know, almost there ... and then it wasn’t.

“We got all the way to the end of the queue and they said, ‘this is the maybe burger line’. Nobody wants to be in the ‘maybe burger line’, everybody wants to be in the ‘definitely burger line’.”

Will Newton is one of the owners of Lover, which opened just five weeks ago. He helped secure the pop-up for his Windsor restaurant but was surprised by how many people turned up.

“If you’re still thinking about coming, don’t,” he told news.com.au shortly after 11.30am.

It’s not the first time In-N-Out has caused chaos in Australia. The exact same thing happened in January, 2016, when a pop-up opened at Dead Ringer in Sydney. On that occasion, the burgers sold out before the store even opened.

“I got there at 10am and there was already a queue around the block. The people in front of me had been waiting since 8.30am,” Sneha Rao told news.com.au.

“They started handing out the wristbands at 11.15am and I missed out by five people. They said I could try next time but I needed to get there much earlier.

“I’m terribly disappointed. I just left the queue. People are crazy.”

In-N-Out gained its hallowed reputation in part because it made its burgers fresh, cooked-to-order, rather than sitting behind the cashier for god knows how long. It’s also cheap — the basic hamburger is just over $US2 and you could get a whole meal for about $US5.

It started making burgers in California in 1948 and still limits itself to a handful of US states. Outlets can be found in Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Oregon.