Allan Border held back tears and gave thanks to his old teammate.
“I feel sorry for the people around Australia who never met him,” Merv Hughes said.
“You’re the greatest Australian that I know,” Brian Lara said.
“I always felt honoured to be in your presence.”
Occasionally someone in the crowd shouted out: “Love ya Warnie.”
Warne’s brother Jason gave his second eulogy in 10 days. The first was when close family and friends held a private service at St Kilda Football Club’s home ground in Moorabbin.
“For Shane and I, everything was a competition,” Jason said.metasports
“But we never got angry at each other for very long.”
The pop star dedicated a song, Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me, to Warne’s children Brooke, Jackson and Summer.
Good friend Chris Martin, of Coldplay, appeared from a tropical forest singing Yellow. Robbie Williams sat in a room of large, glowing candles and performed Angels. Ed Sheeran strummed Thinking Out Loud.
Almost every sporting hero and Hall of Fame entertainer featured in the ceremony. There were recorded messages from Kelly Slater, Sachin Tendulkar, Kylie and Dannii Minogue, and Greg Norman.
Mr Warne was reading his speech.
“Looking forward to a future without Shane is inconceivable,” he said.
“Shane loved life and lived for sport. He was a person who could make everybody feel very special.
“You were taken too soon, and our hearts are broken. Rest in peace, mate. Love ya. Mum and Dad.”
Famous musicians sent videos to be played on the large screens.
“He loved to play cricket and he loved life,” Elton John said.