A record one million people flocked to the Mayor's Thames Festival this weekend as London basked in late summer sunshine.

Organisers credited the long-awaited spell of good weather for the huge turnout.

The open-air festival, which ended with a spectacular fireworks display. has never seen rain in its 10-year history.

"We've smashed all records this year," said festival director and founder Adrian Evans.

"The sun clinched it for us. Someone up there must love this festival."

The fiesta of open air arts, pyrotechnics, boat races and street theatre stretched along the river from Waterloo to Blackfriars, passing the National Theatre, the Southbank Centre and the Tate.

Southwark Bridge was closed to traffic on Saturday after it was transformed into seaside retreat, bordered by woodland. The bridge was packed with beach huts, a bandstand, a house made of chocolate and banqueting tables.

A human chandelier could also be seen suspended by a crane 60ft in the air.

The first year the event was put on it featured a high-wire walk across the Thames. This year the number attending the festival soared by some 20 per cent.

Mr Evans said: "London can be a hostile place with people divided and crime and everything else. Wandering around seeing people's faces lit up is wonderful. Seeing people sit together and have a drink looking at the Thames gives you a really warm feeling about living in one of the greatest cities in the world."

As the area it covers has spread, it has become one of London's largest annual festivals. It was extended to Jubilee Gardens and Potters Field Park this year. Eventually it will include the Thames Barrier to the east and Teddington to the west.

Mr Evans, who was in charge of the opening of Eurotunnel and 19 music stages for the Millennium celebration, said: "The festival was designed to be a spectacular event of which Londoners could be proud. If London were a village, the festival would be its fair."