Police investigating the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal are dealing with around 300 alleged victims, Scotland Yard revealed on Thursday.
Commander Peter Spindler said officers are following more than 400 lines of inquiry linked to the victims, of whom all except two are women.
He said investigators have so far spoken to 130 people who have come forward, and 114 allegations of crime have emerged.
Mr Spindler said Savile was "undoubtedly" one of the most prolific sex offenders of recent history.
Police investigating the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal are dealing with around 300 alleged victims
He said a retired officer had been in touch to say he had investigated Savile in the 1980s while based in west London but he had not had the evidence to proceed.
Mr Spindler said he believed the allegation was of an indecent assault on BBC premises but officers have still not found the original file.
He said allegations reported today that doctors in hospitals had been involved in abuse "hadn't come through to us at the moment".
Officers are using a "triage" approach, first making contact with victims by phone to get initial details of their allegations, Mr Spindler said.
He told reporters that most of the allegations are linked to Savile, but some involve others who may have acted with him.
The inquiry will be a "watershed" moment in the investigation of child abuse, he said.
Nobody has yet been arrested or interviewed under caution as yet, but the force is "preparing an arrest strategy".
The Commander said: "There's Savile on his own, and that's the vast majority of what we're being told about, there's Savile and others. And it's the others, if they're living, we can look at them."
Officers are trying to contact victims as quickly as possible, but for some it is the first time they have spoken about the allegations, Cmder Spindler said.
He told journalists: "We are trying to make contact with as many victims as quickly as we can. We are doing it initially by telephone but some of those telephone contacts are taking up to four hours.
"This may be the first time that some people have actually spoken in any detail, and we don't underestimate how significant an event it is for them to disclose sexual abuse."
He said that the weight of evidence against the late DJ was overwhelming.
He said: "We have to believe what they are saying because they are all saying the same thing independently."
It came as BBC Trust chairman Lord Chris Patten admitted allegations of sex abuse against BBC DJ and presenter Jimmy Savile have done "terrible damage" to the reputation of the corporation.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's World at One, Lord Patten said: "We have to deal with the terrible damage to the reputation of the BBC, which has hitherto been a national institution which people have trusted."
Most of the allegations are linked to Savile, but some involve others who may have acted with him
Peter Watt, Director of the NSPCC helpline, said the allegations against Savile had led to more calls to the child protection charity relating to abuse.
“The case of Jimmy Savile has caught the attention of the entire country. And whilst we have seen a wave of calls relating to abuse by the late celebrity, as well as calls from other adults who were abused in childhood, we have also seen a surge of calls relating to children suffering abuse right now. This is especially encouraging as we may be able to help stop this abuse in its tracks and bring the perpetrators to justice," he said.