The Supreme Court is to give its decision next Wednesday on whether Wikileaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden, where he faces sex crime allegations, it was announced on Wednesday.
Lawyers for Assange had asked the UK's highest court to block the move, claiming the European arrest warrant issued against was "invalid and unenforceable".
A panel of seven Supreme Court judges, who heard the case in February, will give their judgment next Wednesday.
The Swedish authorities want Assange, 40, to answer accusations of raping one woman and sexually molesting and coercing another in Stockholm in August 2010 while on a visit to give a lecture.
Assange, whose WikiLeaks website has published a mass of leaked diplomatic cables that embarrassed several governments and international businesses, says the sex was consensual and the allegations against him are politically motivated.
If the Supreme Court rejects his appeal it will mark the end of his lengthy legal battle in the UK, but it will still be open to him to ask the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to intervene.