The emotional finale of hit TV comedy Friends was watched by 51.1 million people in the US.

Preliminary ratings showed it was the highest viewing audience since the last episode of Seinfeld in 1998.

NBC had predicted an audience of around 50 million for the last episode of their popular sitcom which was broadcast on May 6.

It was preceded by one-hour retrospective of the series' six characters over the last 10 years.

Viewers now know the outcome of the show's on-off love affair between Ross and Rachel, played by David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston.

The final show commanded advertising rates averaging m for 30 seconds - a record for a sitcom and the kind of figures usually reserved for the Super Bowl.

In New York, the final episode was shown on a big screen in Times Square, watched by 3,000 people from a park overlooking the Hudson River.

Fans also watched bloopers from the series during an official Friends Finale Viewing Party at Universal Citywalk in Los Angeles.

TV network NBC devoted three hours of its schedule to the farewell episode.

The finale received mixed reviews in the US press, with Newsday's Noel Holston calling the episode "sweet and dumb and satisfying".

But the Hartford Courant's Roger Catlin wrote: "Anyone new to Friends who succumbed to the hype to tune in would have been surprised at how laughless the affair could be.

"Nearly every strained gag depends on the sheer stupidity of its characters."

Making its debut in 1994, Friends and its cast of easy-going single people caught on with viewers looking for an escape from the fast-paced 1990s.

(Agencies)