Fans heading to Los Angeles for Michael Jackson's memorial extravaganza have been urged to stay away, as organizers said tickets for the event would be allocated by an online lottery.
Pop icon Jackson's sudden death on June 25 sparked a worldwide outpouring of grief and hundreds of thousands of devotees are expected to descend on Los Angeles for Tuesday's memorial at the Staples Centre.
But in a clear attempt to deter large numbers of ticket less fans from besieging the venue and creating a logistical nightmare, city officials said Friday the entire area would be put on lockdown.
Some 11,000 tickets would be made available for the event inside the main venue while an additional 6,500 tickets would be distributed for fans watching a live feed at the neighbouring Nokia Theatre.
Within minutes when the draw being announced the Staples Centre website had crashed. Representatives for the Jackson family later said the site had received 500 million hits in less than two hours.
Hoping to reduce the size of the crowd, city officials told The Los Angeles Times that there would be no funeral procession and that no one would be allowed inside a large area around the Staples Centre unless they had a ticket and a wristband.
The decision to hold an online draw, open only to US residents, but disappointed fans already gathered at the Staples Centre, some of whom had flown into Los Angeles from overseas in anticipation of the event.
Michael Jackson will be remembered on Saturday in London where Madonna will perform a special tribute during her show at the venue where the late singer was due to stage his farewell concerts.
No information about where Jackson would be buried or what Tuesday's service would comprise was given.
However, Jackson's elder brother Jermaine said he would still like the pop legend to be buried at Neverland, a tribute to Jackson's fascination with childhood that in its heyday had giraffes, tigers and a private amusement park.
As planning for Tuesday's memorial continued, legal battle lines were drawn over the fate of Jackson's offspring, with ex-wife Debbie Rowe declaring she planned to seek custody of the star's eldest two children.
A court hearing is scheduled next Monday to determine who will administer Jackson's estate, and another hearing is set for July 13 to discuss the guardianship of the singer's three children.
Rowe, who was married to Jackson between 1996 and 1999, was omitted from a 2002 filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday in which Jackson named his 79-year-old mother Katherine Jackson as guardian.
Jackson's mother was on Monday appointed temporary guardian of the two children and their seven-year-old sibling, Prince Michael II or "Blanket," who was born to an unidentified surrogate mother.
Rowe filed a petition in 2001 to give up her parental rights but later reversed her decision and secured visitation rights.
Rowe's lawyer Eric George later told reporters in a conference call on Thursday that no final decision had been made.