The last time I stood outside St George's Hall surrounded by Liverpool supporters, it was to watch the victorious Champions League winning squad of 2005 receive their deserved homecoming. A crowd so big, it was inestimable. Between 250,000 and one million people took to the streets to welcome home their heroes, who sat upon an open top bus and paraded their Champions League trophy. Images people would never see again; emotions the city of Liverpool would never feel again.

Until Wednesday, that is: the day the truth, known by the people of Liverpool for 23 years, entered the public conscience.

This crowd outside St George's Hall could be estimated. Liverpool City Council claimed 10,000 stood to show support, though there was no open-top bus to drive or shiny trophy to parade. But heroes did emerge, just like they have for 23 years. These were not football players, but ordinary people; they have not enjoyed publicised highs but suffered unfathomable lows. The families of the 96 who died at Hillsborough, alongside survivors and supporters in the fight for justice, walked out before the crowd. Dignified. Just as they have been since April 1989.

Bill Shankly's most famous quotation of football being more important than life and death has never stood up against the tragic loss of lives at Hillsborough. So it proved again on Wednesday. The emotion of winning a football match unparalleled to the emotion felt as 23 years of graft, courage and fight finally brought a sliver of comfort.

It was a victory that brought smiles on faces for the first time in over two decades and arms raised on a day some feared would never come to pass. This was more important than any football match; it always will be. This was the biggest victory in Liverpool's history, both club and city. The families were right, as David Cameron confirmed in the House of Commons. We knew that all along.

What wasn't known was what the Hillsborough Independent Report would actually reveal; to what extent the severity of lies, deception and cowardice would be laid bare.

The panel, led by Bishop of Liverpool James Jones, spent two years examining 450,000 internal documents. Within two minutes in Parliament, its main findings were summarised, its impact to be felt forever. "Today's report is black and white - the Liverpool fans were not the cause of the disaster," said Cameron. "The biggest cover up in British history," claimed Michael Mansfield QC afterwards. Neither dealt in hyperbole.

Some things were already known by those who read previous reports. The incompetence of the Football Association for hosting the game at a stadium without a safety certificate. The incompetence of South Yorkshire Police who did not police the situation appropriately. The incompetence of the emergency services, alongside the police, who failed to respond to the dying and injured.

But after the incompetence, the gut-wrenching cowardice. Some things that were not known. With each turn of the report's pages came a further twist of the kaleidoscope; a new, horrific insight of what happened in Sheffield both on the day of the tragedy and in its aftermath.

Authorities attempted to create a "completely unjust" account of events that sought to blame the fans, searching for alcohol in the blood of victims, including children, and carrying out police national computer checks on those who had died in an attempt "to impugn the reputations of the deceased".

"Despicable untruths" about the behaviour of fans were part of police efforts "to develop and publicise a version of events that focused on allegations of drunkenness, ticketlessness and violence". Further to that, South Yorkshire Police changed 116 of the 164 statements made in the wake of the tragedy, removing any negative comments about the organisation.

Most damning of all, 41 of the 96 who died could have been saved.

In opposition to the original, strongly-challenged coroner's report, 41 of the deceased were either alive after 3.15pm, or suffered injuries which were inconsistent with the findings of the pathologists. 28 did not have obstruction of the bloodflow; 16 had evidence of heart and lungs continuing to function for a prolonged period after the crush.

Hillsborough was never a football tragedy - it was a human one. As the government heard of the crimes committed against the 96 men, women and children who lost their lives, so too did the rest of the world. All gasped in unison.

This was not about which team these people supported, or what sport they watched; it was about the system failing the deceased and all those affected. To do something so normal and not return home is tragic; to wait 23 years to discover why is criminal. 66 people died in the 1982 Luzhniki disaster in Moscow and had to wait seven years for the full truth - that was under Soviet rule.

The families and survivors of Hillsborough battled so hard for the truth. The truth hurt more than anyone was anticipating, but still those at the front of St George's Hall raised a smile. The 96 who died, and thousands of their brethren, finally exonerated for unthinkable crimes they did not commit. That they had to be exonerated in the first place highlights the level of deception by the authorities; the lies by those in power, propagated and regurgitated by the Sun newspaper, its journalist Harry Arnold and editor Kelvin MacKenzie.

They would have got away with it if not for the voice of Liverpool demanding justice, ever-growing and never going. That voice was heard for its heroes on Wednesday evening as the city held its vigil for the 96.

Margaret Aspinall, Sheila Coleman and Anne Williams spoke on behalf of the bereaved families and survivors. They thanked the efforts of those in attendance: the families and survivors, who remained strong throughout; Kenny Dalglish, attendee of 96 funerals, who ensured no one walked alone; MPs Steve Rotheram and Andy Burnham, who helped make this day, sometimes seeming so far away, a reality; the panel who produced the report, for such a thorough investigation; the Liverpool supporters across the world, who did all they could.

But it was the 10,000 in attendance that were there to thank those people; to pay their respects to those who died; to celebrate the end of the spineless smearing of their names. It was only ever possible because of the love of the families and survivors coupled with the sense of injustice that, like the eternal flame, never extinguished. As hymns were sung and prayers were read, a surreal mixture of joy, anger, relief, grief and pride swept through the crowds. For each person there, a different story, and a tear of happiness or sadness shed.

A misnomer has been perpetuated about the city of Liverpool and its people for far too long. Its reputation as a self-pity city that wallows in grief entirely inaccurate. It is a city of solidarity, a city that has, traditionally, dared to stand up to the establishment and fight. Liverpool is a city that has always offered a shoulder to lean upon, and never been ashamed to seek a shoulder themselves. The image of Anfield, days after the tragedy, enshrouded in scarves, flowers and banners from all over the world is as poignant as it is heartbreaking; so, too, on Wednesday, as scarves held aloft throughout were both red and blue.

It's that solidarity that has helped the families and survivors fight for so long. The next fight won't take so long. With the truth out, now is the time for justice. "Justice for the 96" was chanted at the vigil on Wednesday, just as it has been by Liverpool supporters at every ground in the country. It was once asked what justice constituted of. Now everybody knows.

Justice is seeing Irvine Patnick, former MP for Sheffield Hallam, stripped of his knighthood for passing scurrilous lies to the Sun in an attempt to smear the dead, and the supporters who tried to help them. Justice is seeing Kelvin MacKenzie never work again for his hurtful headline and complicity in the attempted cover-up.

Justice is seeing David Duckenfield and those of South Yorkshire Police punished for their failings both on the day and their subsequent disgraceful, unethical behaviour; justice is ensuring the right steps are taken to ensure nothing like the Hillsborough tragedy can ever happen again.

Justice is to get the ruling of accidental death quashed and to launch fresh inquests over the deaths of 96 innocent people, to allow parents to know how and when their children died.

Wednesday was a landmark day. It was the day so many questions from others were answered. The world found out why Liverpool fans never bought the Sun, and why Liverpool fans couldn't just let go. But more importantly, it was the day the families of the victims, the survivors of the disaster and all those who have supported the fight, received answers. We have the truth, and so does the rest of the world. Now it's time for justice.

The suggestion the memory of the 96 can finally rest sits uneasy, for it always rested knowing how hard people worked to uncover the truth. The 96 have never walked alone and never will - and it is thanks to the biggest heroes the football club, and city, could ever hope for. They will keep fighting for them.

And they will win.