Police have been given extra time to question a man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car ploughed into football fans during Liverpool’s Premier League victory parade.

Seven people remain in hospital from a total of 79 casualties identified after the incident involving a Ford Galaxy on Water Street in the city centre shortly after 18:00 BST on Monday.

Merseyside Police said it had been given more time to question a 53-year-old man from West Derby, who was also detained on suspicion of dangerous driving and driving while unfit through drugs.

The force said the vehicle had followed an ambulance, which had been responding to reports of someone having a heart attack, into the road.

Police said they had now spoken to 14 more people who had been injured after reporting 65 were hurt at a news conference on Tuesday.

Officers confirmed they had been granted further time to continue questioning the suspect until Thursday.

Under laws around the detention of suspects, police forces can keep a person in custody for 24 hours without charge, while a senior officer of at least superintendent rank can sign off on a 12 hour extension.

After that, an application can be made to a magistrates’ court for further 12 hour extensions to a maximum of 96 hours – or 14 days if the offence is terrorism related.

Within two hours of the suspect’s arrest, the force confirmed he was a “white British male” and said the incident was not being treated as terror related.

Merseyside Police urged people not to speculate and reiterated that the only suspect in custody was a 53-year-old man from the West Derby area of Liverpool.

Water Street reopened earlier after cordon was lifted and the aftermath of the parade and the incident was cleaned up overnight.

Det Supt Rachel Wilson said: “I’m pleased to say the number of people in hospital is reducing as they continue to recover from the awful incident.

“We continue to support those still receiving treatment and as part of our ongoing enquiries we are identifying more people who were injured.”

She said detectives were making “significant progress” in establishing the full circumstances that led to what happened.

Officers are carrying out a trawl of CCTV inquiries across the city to establish the movements of the Ford Galaxy before the incident took place.

Some flowers and cards with well wishes have been left as a reminder of the events which unfolded.

Hundreds of thousands of jubilant Liverpool fans packed the city centre on Bank Holiday Monday and lined the 10-mile (16km) parade route as the Reds celebrated winning their second Premier League crown and 20th top-flight league title.