This paper is a further work of the authors' paper published previously (Liao T H and Gao Q 2005 Chin. Phys. Lett. 22 2316). The amplitudes of fractional Fourier transform of Cantor sets are analysed from the viewpoint of multifractal by wavelet transform maxima method (WTMM). An integral operation is carried out before the application of WTMM, such that the function obtained can be considered as the perturbed devil staircase. Also, wavelets with large number of vanishing moments are used, which makes the complete singularity spectrum more accessible. The validity of multifractal formalism is guaranteed by restricting parameter q to a proper range, so that the phenomenon of multifractal phase transition can be explained reasonably. Particularly, the method of determining the range of parameter q in the above paper is developed to be more operational and rigorous.