Michael Jackson took centre stage for one last time tonight in the biggest celebrity send-off ever.

The King of Pop's gold coffin was taken to the Staples Centre in Los Angeles to a chorus of cheers and screams from tens of thousands of fans after family members bade farewell in private at a funeral service at the Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Motorways were closed across Los Angeles to allow the Jackson family to travel in cavalcade from the private service to the star-studded memorial service.

The service at the Staples Centre was watched by an estimated audience of several billion as fans across the world tuned in on TV and online to see music stars and a former Britain's Got Talent contestant take part in the public farewell.

Actors, singers and politicians, including Jesse Jackson, were seen arriving at the event to take their seats in the audience.

The motorcade - including five Rolls-Royces, three Cadillac Escalades and 10 identical black Range Rovers - began at Jackson's parents' home before the short service at Forest Lawn.

Jackson's family and dozens of friends, led by his parents Joe and Katherine, walked into a hall at the cemetery where a short viewing was apparently held last night.

Cheers then went up at the Staples Centre as footage on big screens showed Jackson's golden coffin - decorated with red flowers - emerging from the cemetery to be transferred in a black hearse to the public service.