The BBC’s Lyse Doucet says both young and old are paying their respects
The body of Argentina’s former president Nestor Kirchner is expected to be buried in southern Argentina later on Friday.
Mr Kirchner’s body was scheduled to be flown from Buenos Aires to the town of Rio de Gallegos for the funeral.
His widow, current President Cristina Fernandez, returned to the government palace to stand by his coffin during the final hours of his wake.
The family is reportedly planning to hold a private funeral ceremony.
Mr Kirchner died on Wednesday aged 60.
Succeeded by his wife as president, he was expected to run in the 2011 election.
His body was scheduled to be taken in a funeral procession through Buenos Aires to the Aeroparque military base at 1000 local time (1400GMT).
But Argentine media reported that the procession was delayed due to bad weather, and the wake was extended until midday.
The former president, who ran the country from 2003 to 2007, had been lying in state in the government palace – the Casa Rosada or Pink House – since Thursday morning.
Thousands of Argentines and South American leaders, including Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, paid tribute to Mr Kirchner during the wake.
“This is a great loss for Argentina but also for the whole continent”
Juan Manuel Santos Colombian president
Local media reported that about a thousand people passed through the palace every hour, in groups of 150-200 people.
On Friday morning, thousands were again lining the streets outside the palace, waiting for the procession to begin.
People were also still filing past Mr Kirchner’s body during the final moments of the wake.
President Fernandez, dressed in black and wearing dark glasses, stood next to the flag-draped coffin and hugged or held hands with some mourners.
She was accompanied by relatives, political allies and friends and accepted condolences from Spain’s Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez and the former Spanish president, Felipe Gonzalez.
On Thursday, Ms Fernandez had spent 11 hours next to her husband’s coffin.
Many of the well-wishers were carrying candles, flags and flowers, sometimes accepted by Ms Fernandez personally.
Many applauded, others sang or shouted slogans like “Nestor, the people is with you”. Some made emotional statements and asked Ms Fernandez to be strong and to continue to lead the country.
Mr Kirchner had suffered health problems and had a heart operation last month but nevertheless his death shocked many in Argentina, where three days of national mourning were declared.
People were still lining up to pay tribute to Mr Kirchner 24 hours after the wake had begun The country’s football matches this weekend have been called off.
All matches from the first division to lower semi-professional leagues were suspended, the Argentine Football Association said.
Mr Kirchner’s body was flown back to Buenos Aires early on Thursday from the southern town of Calafate, where he died in hospital with his wife by his side.
The former president is expected to be buried in the family plot in a cemetery in his hometown of Rio Gallegos in Argentina’s Patagonian south.
Mr Kirchner served as mayor of Rio Gallegos before becoming governor of the wider region – the oil and gas-rich province of Santa Cruz.
“This is a great loss for Argentina but also for the whole continent,” said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos as he left Buenos Aires on Friday.
“But we have to move on now, as I said to the president yesterday,” Mr Santos, who had participated in the wake, added.
“She has special talents,” he said of Mrs Fernandez. “So I believe that she will continue to be a strong leader.”
Mr Kirchner came to power as Argentina was emerging from a profound political and economic crisis, and he oversaw the country’s return to relative stability and prosperity.
He also supported the prosecution of those responsible for human rights abuses under military rule in the 1970s and 1980s.
He was a polarising figure, very popular among the trade unions and in the industrial belt around Buenos Aires and deeply unpopular among the wealthy.
He and his wife had faced some criticism for appearing to get around the constitutional limit on two consecutive terms.
Just as Mr Kirchner stood aside for his wife in 2007, it was widely thought Mrs Fernandez would step back and allow her husband to run in the October 2011 election.
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