Bookings have opened for public tickets for those wanting to pay their in-person respects to cricket legend Shane Warne at his state memorial service.

Tickets became available at 3pm on Tuesday through Ticketek for the Melbourne Cricket Ground event, which will take place at 7pm on March 30.

It will be the wider public’s first chance to say goodbye to Warne following his death from a suspected heart attack at the Thai resort island of Koh Samui on March 4.

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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is expecting tens of thousands of Victorians to attend the state memorial.

“We’re working very closely with the family to make sure that it is a celebration of his life,” Mr Andrews said in parliament on Tuesday.

“It’s a matter of how much space is required for staging and things of that nature, but there’s no COVID limit or anything like that. There will be as many [mourners] as we can get in there.”

Those who want to be at the MCG next Wednesday will need to be fully vaccinated.

Gates will open at 5.30pm and guests must be seated by 6.45pm for a 7pm start. The service is expected to run for two hours.

Rather than flowers, Warne’s family has asked people to donate to The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.

• See more details for next week’s MCG service here

Warne’s state memorial follows a private funeral held in Melbourne on Sunday.

About 80 guests, including Warne’s three children and parents, attended the service at the St Kilda Football Club.

The MCG event will be livestreamed on the Victorian government’s website.

It will also be livestreamed to public events at the Sydney Cricket Ground and Perth’s Optus Stadium, where thousands more people are expected to gather.

The MCG’s Great Southern Stand is also to be renamed in Warne’s honour.

– with AAP