By Agencies

Game of Thrones and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel have won the top prizes at the Emmy awards in a night full of surprises.

Game of Thrones and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel have won the top prizes at the Emmy awards in a night full of surprises, including a live marriage proposal that shocked the audience.

HBO's medieval fantasy epic Game of Thrones won a total of nine Emmys, including technical awards for special effects and stunts, and was named best drama series for a third time, beating last year's champion, The Handmaid's Tale.

Netflix, which had 112 nominations going into the awards, ended up tying HBO for the most wins, with 23 apiece.

Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, a series about a 1950s housewife who turns to stand-up comedy, took home the Emmy for best comedy series.

Mrs Maisel won a total of eight awards on the night, including best actress for Rachel Brosnahan.

Among the highlights were the shock marriage proposal, that came when director Glenn Weiss used his acceptance speech to propose to his girlfriend in the audience, Jan Svendsen. She said yes.

Emmy hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost from Saturday Night Live filled the evening with jokes about diversity on television, sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry and the power of streaming services like Amazon and Netflix.

"It is an honour to be here sharing this night with the many, many talented and creative people in Hollywood who haven't been caught yet," Che said, alluding to the dozens of men who have been fired or forced to resign in the past year because of sexual harassment allegations.

Meanwhile, on the red carpet, Jennifer Lewis made a bold statement, choosing to wear Nike.

"I am wearing Nike to applaud them for supporting Colin Kaepernick and his protest against racial injustice and police brutality," Lewis told Variety during her red-carpet interview before the ceremony.

Describing her thought process while selecting an outfit, she remembered asking herself:

"What can I do? What can I do that's meaningful? I'll wear Nike. I'll wear Nike to say thank you.

"Thank you for leading the resistance! We need more corporate America to stand up also."

Below is a list of the top prize-winners announced by the Television Academy:

Drama Series: Game of Thrones

Comedy Series: The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

Actor, Drama Series: Matthew Rhys, The Americans

Actress, Drama Series: Claire Foy, The Crown

Supporting Actor, Drama Series: Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones

Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Thandie Newton, Westworld

Writing, Drama Series: Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg, The Americans

Actor, Comedy Series: Bill Hader, Barry

Actress, Comedy Series: Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

Directing Comedy Series: Amy Sherman-Palladino, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

Limited Series: The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Variety Sketch Series: Saturday Night Live

Variety Talk Series: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

Reality-Competition Program: RuPaul's Drag Race