KOH SAMUI, Thailand (AFP) — Thai authorities were preparing Sunday to conduct an autopsy on the body of Australian cricket superstar Shane Warne, who died of a suspected heart attack, before flying him home where he will receive a State funeral.

Police said there was no foul play suspected in the 52-year-old’s death after he was found unresponsive in a luxury villa on Thai holiday island Koh Samui late Friday.

The unexpected passing of the “King of spin” sparked a global outpouring of grief from prime ministers, rock stars and fellow players, acknowledgement that the Melbourne native transcended his sport.

On Sunday Warne’s three children reacted to his death, with friend and manager James Erskine saying they were “in complete shock”.

“Jackson [Warne’s son] just said ‘We expect him to walk in the door. This is like a bad dream’,” Erskine told Australia’s Channel Nine.

The player — one of the greatest Test cricketers of all time — was found unresponsive in a Samujana resort villa on Friday after failing to meet friends.

Warne was taken to Thai International Hospital Samui about 6:00 pm (1100 GMT), but his management said despite medical efforts “he could not be revived”.

Officers on the holiday island said Saturday “no foul play was suspected” following an initial investigation, and confirmed Warne’s body would be transported to Surat Thani for an autopsy.

Early Sunday, AFP reporters saw a body placed in an ambulance from the morgue where Warne’s body had been kept overnight.

Relatives had “already coordinated with the Australian Embassy so that right after the autopsy’s finished, they will take his body back to Australia” said local police chief Yutthana Sirisombat.

Speaking outside Koh Samui’s police station Andrew Neophitou, a close friend of Warne, said: “We really just want to get Shane home, that’s all it is.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison led tributes to one of the country’s “greatest characters” and announced Warne would receive a full State funeral.

Victoria State Premier Daniel Andrews said Warne’s family had accepted, and that the funeral would be “an opportunity for Victorians to pay tribute to his contribution to his sport, to our State and the country”.

Over the weekend fans gathered at Melbourne Cricket Ground to lay flowers and some unusual offerings — among them cigarettes, beer and meat pies — to remember a unique cricketing talent.

Credited with reviving the art of leg-spin, Warne was part of a dominant Australian Test team in the 1990s and 2000s and helped his country win the 1999 limited-overs World Cup.

His tally of 708 Test wickets has been surpassed only by fellow spinner Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka.