As the nation remembers Phillip Hughes, mourners have gathered around the Adelaide Oval pitch to leave their own personal tributes.

About 3000 people attended a screening of Hughes’ funeral service at Adelaide Oval, where he played Shield cricket for the Redbacks for two years.

Fans took to the field after the service to leave flowers, cards and cricket gear at a makeshift shrine for Hughes.

Marion Bahr, 73, from Hackham, said the service in Hughes’ home town of Macksville was an ideal way to celebrate his life.

She said she came to the screening at Adelaide Oval to pay her respects to a young man taken far too young.

“To see a young man, not much younger than my son, tragically taken from life so soon … it’s very sad,” she told AAP.

“I just wanted to be here.”

Ryan Brown, 18, from Wynn Vale, said he had been to Adelaide Oval many times but had never seen it so quiet.

“It really does break my heart,” he said.

“It’s the first time that I’ve come here and there’s just this silence.”

Lisa Totani, 17, from Morphettville, said she had seen Hughes play for the Redbacks at Adelaide Oval just a few weeks before his death.

“Even though I didn’t know him personally … you just feel so close, and you feel like you know them so much,” she told AAP.

“It’s just the Australian tradition.

“I’ve always played backyard cricket with family. Cricket’s just a part of our culture.”

David Parsons, 81, from Clovelly Park, has been a cricket umpire for the Sacred Heart College First XI for the past 21 years.

He said his thoughts were with the family of Hughes but also Sean Abbott, who delivered the bouncer that struck the popular cricketer.

“You still can’t come to grips with the possibility of such a thing happening,” he told AAP.

“My heart bleeds so much for young Abbott, particularly today.

“I just hope that over the years he’s strong enough within himself to come back and play the game again. It’s such a tragedy all the way around.”