The Prime Minister of New Zealand was turned away from a cafe in Wellington because it had reached the customer capacity permitted by social distancing measures.

Jacinda Ardern was hoping to sit down for brunch at 'Olive' with her fiancé Clarke Gayford, but fell foul of her own rules and had to be turned away.

A Twitter user called Joey joked: "Omg Jacinda Ardern just tried to come into Olive and was rejected cause it's full."

Mr Gayford confirmed the episode, posting: "I have to take responsibility for this, I didn't get organised and book anywhere."

He was quick to compliment the restaurant, adding: "Was very nice of them to chase us down st when a spot freed up. A+ service."

A spokesperson for the New Zealand Government said: “The PM says she just waits like everyone else.”

The owner of the cafe, who declined to be named, told the New Zealand Herald  Ms Arden was ‘lovely’.

"She had a lovely brunch and left half an hour later. She was lovely with all the staff ... [and] she was treated like a normal customer," they added.

New Zealand, which has been a world-leader in controlling the spread of Covid-19, eased its restrictions on Thursday to ‘level two’ allowing restaurants, cafes, barbers and a number of other establishments to open although gatherings still have a limit on numbers and social distancing measures remain in place.