Shane Warne funeral: Fans, sport icons and celebrities bid farewell to Australia legend in emotional memorial

Cricket greats including Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Allan Border and Nasser Hussain led the tributes as a memorial service bid farewell to Australian legend Shane Warne.

More than 50,000 fans joined celebrities, dignitaries, friends, rivals and team-mates at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday to honour Warne, who passed away at the age of just 52 after suffering a suspected heart attack while on holiday in Thailand earlier this month.

A private funeral ceremony had already taken place last week but members of the Warne family, including his three children Summer, Brooke and Jackson, were at the MCG to deliver powerful speeches.

“You drew memories in my mind I will never erase and you painted colours in my heart I will never replace,” a tearful Summer, 20, said during the most moving segment of the evening.

"You will always live forever inside my heart Dad, and I will continue your legacy. Forever my Dad, no matter where you are. May you now rest in eternal paradise, I love you so unconditionally much."

Former England captain Hussain described Warne as “the greatest cricketer that's ever played the game”, while Lara simply called him “The King”.

Border was Warne’s first Australia captain and recalled his emergence ahead of his Test debut in 1992.

"He was instantly likeable, that was a solid start,” Border said. "There was a little bit of cockiness about him, this young, fresh face with the peroxide blond hair and the stud earring and the rest of it that went with it. Instantly there was something there.”

Warne would go on to take 708 Test wickets across the course of his career, a record at the time of his retirement, though it has since been surpassed by by Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

Many of Warne’s