On Tuesday, thousands of mourners around the country gathered to watch a live broadcast of the service, which was also televised in Nepal and at New Zealand's Scott Base in Antarctica, which Hillary founded.
"This is an enormous loss to the nation," said Heather Galbraith, an art gallery curator from Wellington. "He was a man from a different era, and his generosity of spirit was unflagging."
After Everest, Hillary led a number of expeditions. In 1958, he and four companions travelled overland in three modified tractors to become the first to reach the South Pole by vehicle.
Tributes to Hillary talked of his tenacity, sense of adventure and modesty.
"Adventure was compulsory in the Hillary family," his son Peter told the service. "We always feared where dad was going to take us in the upcoming school holidays."
"That shared adventure was one of the greatest gifts he gave to his family and friends," he said. Peter Hillary followed in his father's footsteps and became a mountaineer.
Hillary set up the Himalayan Foundation and through it raised millions of dollars to build schools, hospitals, and roads to the Everest region. He was made an honorary citizen of Nepal in 2003.
He had asked that no memorials be set up "when he kicked the bucket" other than to continue the work of the foundation.
"His love and dedication to the Sherpas was like that of a parent to a child; absolute and unconditional," said Norbu Tenzing Norgay.
After the service Hillary's coffin was carried from the church to the strains of a lone piper, through an honour guard of mountaineers with ice axes and on to a traditional challenge of the indigenous Maori people performed by pupils of a school named after Hillary.
The funeral cortege travelled through Auckland streets lined by thousands, who stood and applauded, to a private family service at which Hillary was to be cremated. He had asked that his ashes be scattered on Auckland's harbour.
