SHOTLIST:

1. Various of people lining up to say goodbye to Diego Armando Maradona

STORYLINE:


Thousands of people filed past Diego Maradona's coffin on Thursday, as Argentina and the wider world was plunged into mourning by the legendary late footballer's death at the age of 60.

Mourners, many in tears, and many wearing the World Cup winner's number 10 Argentina shirt, gathered at the Casa Rosada presidential palace where the national hero's coffin was draped in the sky-blue-and-white national flag.

Many more will pay homage to one of the all-time sporting greats throughout the day, with government officials initially estimating as many as one million people may wish to say a final farewell.

Maradona's family and closest friends came at dawn before the start of the public wake at 6am.

Tens of thousands of people spent the night in a vigil in the Plaza de Mayo, singing songs in tribute to Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup in 1986.

The late footballer's burial will take place on the outskirts of Buenos Aires later on Thursday, it was confirmed, after the family asked to shorten the extended wake to a single day.

According to initial autopsy results, the late footballer suffered "acute heart failure." He was described as a patient with "dilated cardiomyopathy, and chronic congestive heart failure that generated acute lung edema."

In a statement released Thursday, Maradona's lawyer, Matías Morla lashed out at "criminal idiocy," saying that the emergency services had taken too long to took too long to arrive.

"It is inexplicable that for 12 hours my friend did not receive care or control from the health personnel," he wrote. "The ambulance took more than half an hour to arrive, which was a criminal idiocy."

"This fact cannot be ignored and I will ask that it be investigated," he said.

Maradona, the 'Pibe de Oro', is one of just a handful of Argentines to have been honoured with a public wake at the Casa Rosada. Previous honorees include late president Néstor Kirchner in 2010, the ex-Formula 1 world champion Juan Manuel Fangio in 1995 and a host of former heads of state and politicians, including Bartolomé Mitre, Manuel Quintana, Carlos Pellegrini, Roque Sáenz Peña, Julio Argentino Roca and Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear.