The Australian media regulator has been inundated with complaints about the prank call made by two DJs from the radio station 2Day FM.

The chief executive of the company behind a prank call to the hospital caring for the pregnant Kate Middleton has stood by the two DJs who made the call.

2Day FM presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian, whose initial apology for the prank call to the hospital treating the Duchess of Cambridge was followed by further boasts about it, have been bombarded with online abuse following the news that nurse Jacintha Saldanha had taken her own life.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been left “deeply saddened” after the 46-year-old nurse duped by hoax callers into revealing details about Kate’s health apparently took her own life.