Omagh appeared at first to mourn the tragic and painful loss of the McElhill and McGovern family in private.
At first light police officers and marshals had taken up position along the route and at the church to manage reporters and camera crews and to contain the crowd. But, in truth, there was no crowd to contain.
So it was that when the slow cortege of four hearses made its way along the narrow confines of Church Street the clergy, the press and police outnumbered the mourners.
The hearses, followed by up to 70 family and friends, halted outside the Church of the Sacred Heart with Msgr Joseph Donnelly and others waiting to receive the remains of Arthur McElhill, his partner Lorraine McGovern and their five children: Caroline (13), Seán (7), Bellina (4), Clodagh (18 months) and James (nine months).
About 30 pupils from Sacred Heart College, some still red-eyed and distraught, had lined the road where the cortege stopped. Parents and teachers supported them as a few floral tributes were given to the bereaved.
The town centre was silent, empty and cold. Only the music from within and the hum of engines from television satellite vans broke the still.
Six mourners stepped forward to the first hearse and carried an adult's coffin slowly up the few steps to the waiting Msgr Donnelly and his concelebrants.
After a short delay, the first white coffin was carried by two men and two women. Then another smaller coffin and then another. Then the first of the tragically small coffins was brought into the church. Another poignant delay and an adult coffin, accompanied by the smallest of the white coffins - simple and tiny - were taken towards the church door to be laid before the altar.
The adults were placed to the left and right, the five white coffins between them.
The removal had taken nearly 20 minutes. Mourners trickled into the church after the black-clad family members.
Another couple of dozen children from St Conor's primary school proceeded obediently into the church.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, accompanied by local Sinn Féin MP Pat Doherty and later Michelle Gildernew arrived in silence to take their places. Only plaintive fiddle music filtered outside.
A children's choir from Sacred Heart College sang Be Thou My Vision as Msgr Donnelly, the Auxiliary Bishop of Derry Dr Francis Lagan and the parish priests of Ederney, Co Fermanagh, and Corlough, Co Cavan, led a host of clergy to the altar.
These were "sad and troubled" days for Omagh, said Msgr Donnelly and it was "a difficult and traumatic time" for the two bereaved families.
"Be assured that this large congregation is with you," he added.
"The visual impact of what lies before us leaves us in no doubt about the horrible reality."
After the hour-long ceremony, the remains were taken from the altar one by one - the smallest white coffin first, the others following. The coffins were adorned with single white flowers. A floral tribute placed in the lead hearse simply read "family".
Some family members supported those who were overcome with grief as James's coffin was placed in the hearse. Children lining the road shivered and wept. Many in the hushed crowd, which had by now swollen outside the church, wept with them.