Meanwhile the growing number of Australian scale-ups with offices in Silicon Valley would anxiously await a Trump administration's immigration policies, in light of his campaign threats to crack down on the skilled "H-1B" visas heavily relied upon by employers in the US tech sector.

"One saving grace for big tech is they've been able to buy a very strong lobbying presence in Washington DC. Looks like they are going to need it," Mr Jones said.

'Sick of status quo'

While most have been left reeling by Mr Trump's likely victory, Freelancer chief executive Matt Barrie said he predicted a Trump win and Brexit for the same reason.

"There are a lot of people who are sick of the status quo but wouldn't admit voting for Brexit or Trump if asked, because it's not politically correct," he said.

"Trump didn't give a lot of substance pre-election regarding tech policy, but I think he'll tone it right down once he is in. Peter Thiel is in the winning position."

One of the world's most renowned investors and entrepreneurs, Mr Thiel has been the only prominent outspoken supporter of Mr Trump in the US tech community. Recently the contrarian also donated $US1.25 million to his campaign.

Australian entrepreneur Stephen Dash now lives in San Francisco and runs student loans comparison start-up Credible.


Mr Dash said both candidates were unpopular in the lead-up to the election with bumper stickers reading "give us another candidate" a common sight around Palo Alto and San Francisco.

"There were certainly pundits who have been saying that the polls might not have reflected what was going to happen on the basis that people didn't want to admit that they were Trump supporters in the polls," he said.

Mr Dash said the tech community would be largely unaffected, regardless of which nominee won, because it had been a big economic contributor to the US economy and neither wanted to hamper that. But he added that if Mr Trump cracked down on visas for highly skilled foreign workers, it would be detrimental.

"If anything changes with visas, that would be terrible for the US … it would stop a lot of people getting here … We employ people from all over the world on that visa," he said.

"But I think it's unlikely, even under Trump, that he'll put his foot on the tech sector."