A large crowd of mourners greeted Jack Layton's hearse when it arrived at Toronto City Hall around 9:40 p.m. on Thursday night.

Layton's flag-draped casket was carried into city hall by Toronto Police officers as the crowd respectfully applauded.  Shouts of "We love you Jack," and "Welcome home Jack," could be heard.

The public viewing at city hall is scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday with public visitation Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

The funeral procession will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday and will travel west on Queen Street, then south on University Avenue, west on King Street and south on Simcoe Street to Roy Thomson Hall, where the late NDP leader will be hounoured with a state funeral.

The service is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. and will last about an hour.

Around 600 seats inside Roy Thomson will be available to the public.

Members of the public are being asked to to line up on King Street West. 

Beginning at 8:00 a.m., bracelets will be handed out to approximately the first 600 people in line.

Bracelet holders can then return to the same lineup area on King Street West by noon, at which time they will receive an assigned seat ticket and will be able to proceed inside the hall.

There are 1,700 invited guests. Roy Thomson has a 2,500-seat capacity.

For those who can’t get a seat inside the hall, large screen televisions will be set up in David Pecaut Square (formerly Metro Square).

Earlier Thursday, Layton, who passed away on Monday, left Ottawa for the last time.

The casket carrying his body left Parliament Hill to the sound of applause after Canadians finished paying their respects to the late NDP leader.

Thousands of people, of all ages and backgrounds, attended the public visitation in the foyer of the House of Commons on Wednesday and Thursday.

"Jack Layton represented the regular Canadian person and he played an important role in Parliament in bringing government to the ordinary person," Athena Amarandos said.

The lying-in-state ended at 1:30 p.m. and was followed by a 15-gun salute. His flag-draped casket left Ottawa at 2:20 p.m. to begin the journey back to Toronto, where he served as a city councillor for nearly two decades.

The hearse will make a slight detour on its way back to Toronto to stop at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Que. in a tribute to the province where Layton was born, at the request of his family.

Hundreds of messages written in chalk at Nathan Phillips Square washed away in Wednesday night's rain, but were quickly replaced. Click here to see images of the tribute.

The CN Tower will be lit orange on Saturday in Layton's honour. The orange lights will glow from sundown Saturday to sunrise Sunday. Niagara Fall will also be lit up in NDP colours. The Niagara Falls Illumination Board approved the request on Thursday.

Both tributes were inspired by a social media campaign.

With files from The Canadian Press