Lord Sebastian Coe believes that the growing support at Paralympic venues has been equal to that of the Olympic Games earlier in the summer.

The likes of the velodrome and the Aquatics Centre have been packed with supporters cheering on the British Paralympians and this morning neared an 80,000-strong crowd at the Olympic Stadium for the first day of the athletics action.

"Of course, it's a very powerful and eloquent statement about the status of the sport," said Coe. "The question I guess many of you asked in the earlier days, certainly in the lead up to this, was could we ignite the excitement and the interest? Well, yes we have.

"It was probably a better atmosphere in Aquatics Centre last night than there was just a couple of weeks ago, in large part because we'd actually got some very good and solid hometown performances last night."

The Olympic Stadium is expected to be sold out for tonight's track and field finals.