There were gasps, there were cheers – in many cases there was frank disbelief – as England beat Sweden and went through to the semi-finals of a World Cup for the first time in 28 years.

The comfortable 2-0 win in normal time drew vast crowds to bars and public big screens, jubilant fans spilling out on to the streets long after the final whistle had blown.

Almost 20 million viewers tuned into the BBC to watch the match on Saturday afternoon.

It dominated viewing figures, taking an 87.7% share of the TV audience. England’s victory peaked at 19.64 million viewers as the game finished at 4.45pm.

The figures were slightly below the peak of 24 million who saw England’s first knockout game against Colombia on Tuesday, which was shown on ITV. An average of 15.8 million watched the match.

The viewing figures do not take into account the large number of England fans who watched the games in pubs and on big screens around the country – with the true figure likely to be much higher.

A record number streamed the event on iPlayer and the BBC Sport website, according to the BBC, with 3.8 million live viewers making it the the most-viewed live programme so far.

A peak audience of 19.9m MILLION of you watched @England's incredible #worldcup win on @BBCOne!



3.9 MILLION of you requested it on @BBCiPlayer & @BBCSport, with a record 3.8m of those being live - the @BBC's highest online-viewed live programme EVER!



Thank you!#bbcworldcup pic.twitter.com/xk1f2xlHci — BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 8, 2018

Crikey. Humongous figures again for England. Nearly 20 million on a hot sunny afternoon is incredible, especially given how many watched in pubs, communal gatherings etc...that don’t register. And that share must be close to a record. Football’s coming to homes everywhere. 👍🏻 https://t.co/StVKa1L9ky — Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 8, 2018

An average audience of 4.4 million tuned in for the buildup on BBC One, which started at 2pm, and featured a tribute to the former England manager Sir Bobby Robson.

Lineker became emotional after watching a clip of Robson reflecting on England’s 1990 World Cup heartache. Looking close to tears as the camera panned back to him in the studio, Lineker, whose goals led England to a semi-final clash against Germany during the tournament in Italy, said: “Sorry, my eye, Bobby, bless him.”

England will play Croatia in the semi-final on Wednesday night on ITV, with both broadcasters showing the final next Sunday.

The last quarter-final between Russia and Croatia was seen by an average audience of 7.8 million viewers on ITV. The match – which Croatia won on penalties after Russia dramatically equalised to make the score 2-2 after extra time – had a peak audience of 13.7 million.

There were raucous scenes across England following the victory, with the BBC showing reactions from crowds across the country. Pundits and presenters also joined in the revelry, with the BBC pundit Alan Shearer posting a video showing him singing the Three Lions refrain along with Lineker and Rio Ferdinand.

However, there were calls for calm ahead of the Croatia match, after an ambulance was damaged by England fans standing on the bonnet. London ambulance service published images of the damage to the vehicle, which had to be withdrawn from service.

It said: “We’re delighted with the result, but this has put a big dampener on the celebrations for us: while our officer attended a call nearby, this car was damaged in Borough High Street during the celebrations after the game – it’s now off the road to be repaired.”

The hazardous area response team also tweeted pictures of the damage and asked: “Has true English respect really been forgotten?” It shared images of people who climbed on top of the vehicle asking for the public to help identify the culprits.

RT!



Have you seen what appalling damage has been inflicted on a @Ldn_Ambulance Rapid Response Vehicle following the #EnglandvSweeden match today



If you have any information regarding the culprits please call 101 with information



Has true English respect really been forgotten? pic.twitter.com/TDEWBKMRrz — ☤ WMAS HART ☤ (@WMASHART) July 7, 2018

Further videos emerged on social media of fans gatecrashing an Ikea store in Stratford, east London, and jumping on beds.

An Ikea spokeswoman said: “We are aware of a small group of fans celebrating the match result in one of our stores. Being both British and Swedish, we were on the edge of our seats during the game and we would like to say ‘Grattis!’ (that’s congratulations in Swedish) to the England team for getting through to the semi-finals.”

A spokesman for the Metropolitan police said there had not been a rise in the number of callouts following England’s victory.

Images of fans climbing on buses and bus shelters were taken in Nottingham, Manchester and Birmingham. A video emerged of a man plunging through the roof of a bus stop after jumping from a bus, knocking a woman to the floor in Clapham, south-west London.