The Sudanese defence minister who declared himself head of a provisional military government after ousting President Omar al Bashir in a coup stepped down, after just a day in power.

Awad Abnouf and his deputy, Kamal Absel Maarouf, resigned in a statement issued on Friday evening.

Earlier in the day protesters had chanted that they would stay on the streets until Mr Abnouf left. Lt Gen Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan will take over as head of the military transitional council.

Sudan's new military rulers said they were ready for dialogue with demonstrators after hundreds of thousands of people defied a curfew to occupy central Khartoum for a sixth night.

But the generals warned they would not tolerate “chaos” and ruled out extraditing Bashir, the dictator they deposed in a coup on Thursday, to face charges of war crimes.

“We are not against the demands of the people, we are for the demands of the people, and we have to achieve them,” Zein Abedeen, the general tasked with leading talks with the protesters, said in a press conference.