At least two staff at IBM Australia have been sacked over the bungled census operation, The Australian claims.

The newspaper said a head of the computer company's global technology services and a project director were among those who had taken the fall for the failure of the five-yearly population count on 9 August.

The census was expected to be mainly conducted online that night, but the website was taken offline at 7.30pm, with the blame being laid on a distributed denial of services attack. No proof has been advanced to back this claim.

The Australian Signals Directorate was tasked with investigating the debacle. A parliamentary committee has also announced an inquiry which will report back on 24 November.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had threatened that "heads would roll" over the incident.

The deadline for the collection of census data is 23 September. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has threatened to fine those who either do not submit their forms or fill in incorrect data.