Stellar population parameters in the rest-frame stellar mass–colour diagram. At different redshift bins, we present the stellar mass (X-axis) and intrinsic colour (m_F365 − m_F551)_int (Y-axis) after correcting for extinction. The stellar population parameters are colour-coded according to their values using EMILES+BaSTI SSP models (see colour bars). From top to bottom: extinction, mass-weighted age and metallicity, and specific star formation rate. All the parameters were spatially averaged through a LOESS method. Black crosses illustrate the median uncertainties in both stellar mass and (m_F365 − m_F551)_int intrinsic colour. The dashed line illustrates the colour limit for selecting quiescent galaxies in the MCDE, see Eq. (3) and Table 3, for this work. The shaded regions show the stellar mass range in which our quiescent sample is not complete in stellar mass. We illustrate the colour variations owing to a reddening of A_V = 0.5 (black arrow), assuming the extinction law of Fitzpatrick (1999).