The Hillsborough inquests commenced on March 31, 2014 and are the subject of reporting restrictions that have been imposed by the Attorney General's office. Liverpool Football Club is respectful of these restrictions and will therefore only be making available updates from other media channels for the duration of the inquest.

The report below - and the witness testimony contained within it - does not necessarily reflect the views of Liverpool FC. Please be aware that the reports on these pages will contain evidence about the day of the disaster which may be distressing.

To view archive reports from each day of the inquest hearings, click here.

Courtesy of the Liverpool Echo - November 27

Volunteers told of the "fear" on the faces of fans during the crush at Hillsborough.

The inquests heard evidence from members of St John Ambulance who were on duty at the FA Cup semi-final on April 15, 1989.

John Towler, a divisional superintendent for the charity, was asked about what he detected in the expressions on fans' faces when he looked into the pens on the Leppings Lane terraces.

He said: "Fear. Just absolute fear."

Peter Wells, the divisional superintendent in charge of coordinating members on the day, told the court he had walked towards the pens from the other side of the ground after seeing fans coming over the fences.

He said: "When I got there it was obvious they were full and some of the police were already up on the hoardings trying to urge the crowd to go back and I jumped up on the hoardings and assisted my voice to it.

"But when you got on the hoardings and looked back, you could see it was obvious people couldn't go back, it was that packed and tight."

Mr Wells told the court he had attempted to clear the airways of some girls at the front of the pens.

He then went to his ambulance, parked at the rear of the South Stand, and was shown on video footage running onto the pitch with a colleague carrying an oxygen cylinder at 3.12pm.

He described attempting to give oxygen to casualties through the fence but said it did not seem to have an effect.

The court heard Mr Wells did not see any personnel from South Yorkshire Ambulance Metropolitan Service until the first ambulance came onto the pitch at 3.37pm.

Pete Weatherby QC, representing 22 of the families, said: "It is right, isn't it, that through that whole period, the whole period of the disaster, you received no orders, no direction, of any type from either senior police officers or indeed the professional ambulance service?"

Mr Wells agreed.

The inquests also heard from former divisional superintendent David Senior, who said he went to the Leppings Lane end after he saw fans climbing onto the pitch.

He said: "When they started, first of all, climbing over, it appeared as though the police was trying to push them back, like it could have been a pitch invasion."

He added: "To me, it seemed as though it was, they were climbing over in a panic."

The court was shown footage of Mr Senior at 3.09pm wheeling a fan off the pitch on a stretcher and he said he then returned to help other casualties.

Matthew Hill, counsel to the inquests, asked: "Were you aware at that stage of anybody organising or coordinating the response to the incident?"

Mr Senior said no.