Mourners farewell brave Jane

Jane McGrath will be remembered as a 'courageous, loving, kind and sensitive' woman who touched the hearts of all Australians after those who knew her best farewelled the 'English rose' at an emotional funeral service in Sydney on Wednesday.

Mourners packed the historic Garrison Church in The Rocks to pay their final respects to the wife of Australian cricketing great Glenn McGrath following her death on Sunday after a long and well-publicised battle with cancer.

Former Australian cricketers Steve and Mark Waugh, Michael Bevan, Shane Warne and Mark Taylor were joined by political leaders Kevin Rudd, Brendan Nelson and Morris Iemma in a moving ceremony.

Tracey Bevan, wife of Michael, described Jane as 'the best friend anyone could ever have'.

"The Jane McGrath I know is loving, kind, generous, extremely funny, creative, sensitive, a loyal wife, a loving mother," she said.

"We've cried together but mostly we've laughed together."

"I'll miss her every day until I see her again."

Ms Bevan recalled the pair's bizarre superstition of each wearing the same pair of lucky knickers every day, convincing themselves the ritual was behind Australia's golden run of success in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

"We believe we're the main reason why the Aussie cricket team became such legends of the game," she said.

"Without us and our lucky cherry Marks and Spencers knickers, I'm not too sure Aussie cricket would be as formidable as it is."

Broadcaster Alan Jones said Jane would have been 'bewildered' by the attention afforded her in death.

"We would dishonour the memory of Jane if we didn't celebrate a lady of courage and warmth, unselfishness, happiness, big smiles, class, glamour and generosity of spirit," he said.

"It seems hard to believe that Jane came into our lives so recently yet filled our lives so completely."

"Glenn proved himself a great selector."

"My sense is that Jane would be bewildered by the attention she's receiving today and in these last days."

"But it's a measure of the impact that she unknowingly had."

Test batsman Matthew Hayden's wife Kellie followed with a message penned by Jane.

"The time is here for me to leave this life. I have fought the good fight to the end, I have done my best in this race, I have run the full distance and I have kept the faith," she read.

"And now there is waiting for me a prize of victory awarded for the righteous life, the prize which the lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day - not only to me, but to all those who wait with love."

Together with her husband, Jane set up the McGrath Foundation to raise money and awareness of breast cancer. In January, Jane and Glenn were honoured by being made Members of the Order of Australia. She was also the proud mother of James, 8 and Holly, 6.

White doves were released outside the church, where the McGraths were married in 1999, as the couple's children blew bubbles metres from their mother's flower-laden coffin.

Monty Python's Always Look on the Bright Side of Life played as the congregation filtered from the service to console Glenn McGrath and his family.