George Best's coffin was brought home to his native east Belfast yesterday ahead of today's funeral at Stormont.
His coffin was flown into an RAF airbase at Aldergrove, Co Antrim, on board a chartered aircraft accompanied by his son, Calum, and agent Phil Hughes. They were met by George's father and other members of the family.
It was then taken to the family home in the modest Cregagh estate in east Belfast as frantic preparations for today's massive funeral continued amid steady rain.
Organisers, including the Northern Ireland Office and Castlereagh Borough Council where Best was a freeman, insist the event will be a solemn family funeral. Services at the Best family home and at the graveside where the star will be interred alongside his mother, Annie, are strictly private.
However, the procession to and from Stormont is expected to draw up to 500,000 mourners.
Only some 33,000 will be permitted into the sodden grounds at Stormont, but the service will be relayed from the marbled Great Hall in Parliament Buildings on giant outdoor screens. One reliable source likened the scale of the planned event to a visit by Queen Elizabeth and former president Clinton rolled into one. "Except we got five days to organise it instead of three months," The Irish Times was told.
Crowds will be strictly controlled and retained behind police barriers along the three-mile route from Cregagh to Stormont. The cortege will leave the Best household at 10am accompanied by six police motorcycle outriders and two police cars.
One senior PSNI source would not comment on the numbers of officers deployed and would only say a "substantial" police operation was planned.
There will be a rolling road closure programme and car-parking will be banned within a two-mile radius of the Stormont estate. Mourners are being directed to a series of car parks around the city from where they will be bused to the funeral.
A one-minute silence will be observed at the steps to Stormont before the service of remembrance begins.
A one-hour service for just 300 family members and invited guests begins in the Great Hall at 11am. It will be compered by TV personality Eamonn Holmes from Belfast and will include performances from singers Peter Corry and Ireland's Eurovision singer Brian Kennedy.
The choir will comprise singers from the Belfast Choir and Grosvenor Chorale and schoolchildren from Methodist College. Pastor Roy Gordon will lead the mourners in prayer and make the funeral address.
Those invited to attend will include Best's colleagues from Manchester United and Northern Ireland.
Sir Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, Best's Manchester United team-mates; Gerry Armstrong and former Northern Ireland goalkeeper Pat Jennings, along with members of the Northern Ireland squads from 1958, will accompany former manager Billy Bingham.
Sven-Goran Eriksson, the England coach, and Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager will attend.
Other sports will be represented by the heads of organising bodies, including the IRFU and the GAA.
Boxing promoter Barney Eastwood has been confirmed, as has Barry McGuigan and Dave "Boy" McAuley.
Peter Hain, the Northern Secretary and the local sports minister David Hanson will represent the British government.
Sports Minister John O'Donoghue will represent the Government while Dr Martin McAleese will also attend.
Members of Cregagh football club, where Best first played team football, will also take part in the Stormont ceremony. Best produced sparkling performances for the club before he was spotted by a Manchester United scout.
Best's practitioner, Prof Roger Williams, who cared for the star at London's Cromwell hospital, will also deliver a special tribute during the service.
The event, the largest organised in Northern Ireland, will be relayed live by the BBC, UTV, Sky and RTÉ.