Ned Kelly given final farewell More than a century after he was hanged for murder, descendants and admirers gathered on Friday to pay their final respects to Ned Kelly, Australia's most celebrated outlaw. A crowd of more than 300 people convened at a church in the Victorian town of Wangaratta to hear prayers and hymns for the bushranger and bank robber, who will be buried in an unmarked grave in local cemetery on Sunday. Kelly, the son of an Irish convict, was sentenced to death in 1880 for killing three policemen. The service, which took place close to the spot where Kelly was arrested after his famous shoot out with police, brings to a close a dispute over who had the rights his bones. The headless remains of Kelly were officially identified in September 2011. They had been dumped into a mass grave at an abandoned prison in Melbourne. Although his skull was missing, scientists at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine were able to identify the remains by comparing a DNA sample with that of a relative. Developers of the prison had wanted to keep his remains and put them in a museum but the family wanted them returned so they could be buried on consecrated ground - in keeping with Kelly's last wish. The Victorian state government ruled in favour of the relatives last year, paving the way for this weekend's burial. "This is something that has been needed to be done for a long time, so here for us it's nice to see a close to the chapter so to speak and right an old wrong," Anthony Griffiths, the great grandson of Kelly's youngest sister Grace, told the ABC ahead of Friday's ceremony. He [Kelly] especially requested it the day before he was hanged that he . . . be given to his friends and family so he could be buried properly. Kelly's homemade armour, bank raids and daring escapes have been the subject of numerous films and television programmes, including a 1970 movie, Ned Kelly , in which he was played by Rolling Stones" frontman Mick Jagger. But his story continues to divide Australians. While many see him as folk hero, who defied the British establishment, to others he is simply a murderer. ● Sydney endured its hottest day since records began on Friday with temperatures hitting 45.8C (114.4F). The record eclipsed the previous high of 45.3 degrees reached in January 1939, the Bureau of Meteorology said. It came just weeks after Australia registered a record national average of 40.44C. Australians have been sweltering as a pool of hot air more than 1,000 miles wide formed across the middle of the country. The heatwave has also been responsible for hundreds of bush fires, many of which are still blazing.