The public have started to pay their last respects to Dom Mintoff, as he is lying in state at the Presidential Palace in Valletta.

They took photos of Mr Mintoff as the guards kept telling them to move on and some threw kisses at the late prime minister.

The queue, of several hundred people, started to form outside the palace at about 7 a.m. and by 8.45 a.m. it stretched well past the Cordina cafe'.

By 10 a.m., it had expanded to the law courts after going round the queen monument in Republic Square.

Doors opened at 9 a.m. but visitors were not let in until about 9.20 a.m., after tributes by the family, the President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker.

Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Mercieca paid his respects at 11 a.m. followed by former President Eddie Fenech Adami and Ugo Mifsud Bonnici at 11.30 a.m. and Opposition leader Joseph Muscat and a delegation from the Labour Party at noon.

Those who filed past Mr Mintoff's coffin also included the PN Parliamentary group and PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier.

A PN delegation this morning also called at Labour headquarters to sign the Book of Condolence.