Just an hour before the award of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Friday, Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo emerged as the favourite despite Beijing warnings that the pick would damage relations with Norway.

The president of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjoern Jagland, dropped the biggest hint when he told commercial broadcaster TV2 that the choice would be as controversial as that of US President Barack Obama last year.

"Yes, definitely," he said Friday. "You'll understand when you hear the name."

Policial activist Liu, 54, was jailed in December by a Beijing court for 11 years on subversion charges for calling for sweeping political reforms in China, including the freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion.

Beijing, which has often warned the Norwegian Nobel Committee to steer clear of pro-democracy advocates, recently specifically warned them off Liu, who helped set up Charter 08, a pro-democracy manifesto demanding political reform.

On Thursday, Jagland told Norwegian public television NRK that for him, the right laureate became clear very early in the process.

The UK-based Online Betting Guide OLBG was Friday giving Xiaobo 4 to 1 odds, followed by a three-way tie fpr Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Former Irish president Mary Robinson, and Russian human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina.

Other names on unofficial short-lists include Afghan doctor and women's rights activist Sima Samar and champion of China's Uighur minority Rebiya Kadeer.

Myanmar's broadcaster-in-exile, the Democratic Voice of Burma, also figures among the favourites, as does the European Union and former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, who oversaw the reunification of Germany.

There are also other Chinese rights activists that have been mentioned as possible choices, although none as often as Liu.

These include Uighur advocate Kadeer, Hu Jia, who was jailed for advocating democratic rights, environmental and health causes, and Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer who tried to seek redress for injustices through the Chinese court system.

This year, the Nobel Committee considered a record 237 individuals and organisations for the Peace Prize, which carries with it an award of 10 million Swedish kroner (1.49 million dollars, 1.09 million euros).

The award is to be presented in Oslo on December 10. Other Nobel laureates will pick up their prizes in Stockholm on the same day.

Last year, the Nobel Committee stunned the world and the recipient alike by awarding the honour to Obama, who had been in office less than nine months, and won the prize while the United States was waging simultaneous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Peace Prize is the most closely-watched Nobel, and follows awards for medicine, chemistry, physics, and literature. On Monday, the prize for economics will round out the 2010 Nobel season.

The first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Red Cross founders Jean Henry Dunant and Frederic Passy in 1901. Since then, it has been awarded 90 times, with the committee opting 19 times to bypass handing out the award.