Mourners in Edinburgh have turned out in their “tens of thousands” to pay their respects to the Queen, with many queuing for hours overnight.

Lord Ian Duncan, Deputy Speaker in the House of Lords, said crowds along the Royal Mile were “ten deep” while streets around the historic quarter were equally crowded with people.

“The sheer volume of people moving to Edinburgh today suggests that there will be many tens of thousands – possibly even hundreds of thousands – wanting to pay their respects to the late Queen,” Lord Duncan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio National programme on Tuesday morning.

“This is an extraordinary outpouring of respect, sadness and celebration from an extraordinary woman.

“By God, they were ten deep. They had to prevent people from getting there because it would have become dangerous.

“The streets around (the Royal Mile) were packed and now with people waiting to walk past the coffin itself, the anticipation of the numbers and the sheer volume of people in Edinburgh today is extraordinary.”

While many people have been warned to expect a 12-hour wait to see the monarch’s coffin at St.

Edinburgh’s Gavin Hamilton told the PA news agency he was informed on arrival that it would likely be 13 hours before he had the opportunity to pay respects to the Queen, but it soon became clear the wait was only five or six hours.

“It took about five and a half hours to stand in line to see her,” he said, adding that he got into the cathedral just before 3am.

“There were people in the queue with me who had traveled over 100 miles from Aberdeen to do this. At 12:30 a.m., thousands of people were at the front of the line.

“People were still (queuing) after 2:50 a.m. when I got into the cathedral.”

Mourner Mitch Stevenson, who queued with his sister for just under five hours, said they were “overwhelmed by the power and emotion of the occasion” after making it to St Giles Cathedral just after 1am.

The siblings had originally been told they would likely have to wait 11 hours to see the Queen’s coffin, but they were undeterred.

“It was a very important occasion for us – we lost our mum earlier this year and she would have loved to have been able to go, so we’ve made efforts in her memory too,” Mr Stevenson told PA.

“We were told (we would have to wait) about 11 hours. We accepted this but later found out that wasn’t the case,” he added. “Some people, myself included, maybe felt it was a bit scaremongering to cut viewership a bit.”

The public began entering the cathedral around 6 p.m. Monday.

Just after 6am, the Scottish Government said the approximate waiting time was around two hours, but added it was likely to increase as the morning wore on.

It advised people planning to queue to prepare for the weather and dress.