Lindh died on September 11, a day after being stabbed in a department store in central Stockholm. Today, a Stockholm court ordered a suspect arrested earlier in the week in connection with the popular politician's murder to be held for another week.

As flags flew at half-mast, a light rain drizzled down over City Hall where the 75-minute ceremony gathered about 1,300 high-profile guests as well as Lindh's family and close friends, a day ahead of her funeral which will be a strictly private affair.

On the main marble staircase at the front of the hall, a picture of a smiling Lindh clasping her hands in front of her face was placed on an easel, flanked by candles. Powder-blue delphinium flowers, Lindh's favourite colour, lined the staircase.

"Few, very few, events stop the clocks. One such event is the death of Anna Lindh," EU Foreign Relations Commissioner Chris Patten told the mourners.

"She loved the world, and was loved by the world," he said, adding: "The most beautiful symphonies are sometimes those left unfinished."

Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson, who appointed Lindh foreign minister in 1998, recalled her as an energetic young woman with her jacket flapping in the wind and a knapsack slung over her shoulder. Always on the run, with her mobile phone in one hand and gesturing wildly in protest with the other.

"And there was always that snappy comment and that big rolling laugh," he said.

"We have lost her, that is the way it is. And that realisation hurts so terribly much," he said.

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, who grew up in Sweden and who accompanied Lindh on her last euro referendum campaign stop just 48 hours before her death, placed an olive sprig by her portrait and hailed her as "symbolising the Sweden we admire".

Swedish police put on the biggest display of force since the funeral of slain prime minister Olof Palme 17 years ago to guard the 1300 VIPs attending the ceremony, amid scorching criticism that they failed to protect Anna Lindh, who was without a bodyguard when she was stabbed.

Security forces lined the streets and bridges of the capital, closed off streets and waterways near City Hall and shut down air traffic over the Swedish capital for the day.

"We have very high security for this," police spokeswoman Stina Wessling said overnight.

Meanwhile, just a stone's throw away at Stockholm's district court, judge Lars Sjoestroem acceded to a request by prosecutors to keep the main suspect in Lindh's killing, Per Olof Svensson, in custody for another week to allow them to assemble evidence.

DNA testing is believed to figure prominently among the evidence.

Speaking to reporters outside the court, Svensson's lawyer, Gunnar Falk, said he was "not surprised" by the decision.

"It is understandable that the court gives the prosecutor time" to strengthen its case, he said, adding however that he was "not impressed by the evidence" resented by the prosecutor.

The court's decision raises the chances that Svensson, who was arrested on Tuesday, could be charged with the murder of the popular minister, although prosecutors stressed that point had not yet been reached.

The degree of suspicion was still "low", district court actuary Anita Andreasson said earlier.

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