Brit Awards host James Corden said he hopes tonight's show runs on time and avoids any repeat of last year when he had to interrupt Adele's speech after previous winners overran.
The presenter was criticised after butting in on the 'Someone Like You' singer seconds after she took the stage to pick up the best album award because time was tight following a rambling acceptance speech by Blur's Damon Albarn.
He said organisers had no plans in place last year if timings did not go tight and said he did not know if anything was in place tonight.
He told Radio 1's Newsbeat: "Hopefully we'll be okay. I haven't given it a huge amount of thought. I hope that we'll just run on time."
The event at the O2 in Greenwich, south-east London, is shown live on ITV1 and could see Amy Winehouse pick up a posthumous Brit Award after she was shortlisted for best British female against acts including Emeli Sande.
The late star - who died 19 months ago - took the title in 2007 on the back of her massive Back To Black album.
Sande, Mumford & Sons and Mercury Prize-winners Alt-J lead the nominations, competing for three awards each.
Veteran stars the Rolling Stones have been nominated for best live act - the first time they have been in the running for a Brit for 17 years. And it is the first time they have been shortlisted for anything other than best video since the very first Brit Awards in 1977, when they competed for best group, losing out to the long defunct Beatles.
The big award of the night - best album - will be fought between Sande's Our Version Of Events, Alt-J's An Awesome Wave, Babel by Mumford & Sons and Plan B's Ill Manors. Paloma Faith is also up for the title for her second album Fall To Grace.
Sande and Faith go up against each other once more in the British female category, with Bat For Lashes (Natasha Khan), Jessie Ware and Winehouse completing the contenders. Sande's final nomination is as one of the 15 tracks in the running for best single with Next To Me.
The best male shortlist sees Richard Hawley go up against Olly Murs, Calvin Harris, Plan B and Ben Howard.
Mumford & Sons will line up against Alt-J again for best British group, with The xx and Muse. Pop act One Direction - who will be performing on the night - complete the category after a year which has seen them conquer the US.
Coldplay, Mumford & Sons, Muse and The Vaccines are the bands who will challenge the Stones - who performed two UK shows at London's O2 Arena to mark their 50th anniversary last year - for the best live act title. The prize is making a comeback after being rested since 2009.
Adele is among the acts up for best single, with her Oscar-nominated Bond song 'Skyfall'. Others in the category include Jessie J for Domino and 'X Factor' winner James Arthur with his chart-topping single Impossible.
The 2011 'X Factor' winners Little Mix failed to get a single nomination for this year's Brits, despite releasing their debut album in the qualifying period.
Rihanna leads the field in the shortlist for international female act and stands a chance of becoming the first person to win the prize in three consecutive years. She is up against Alicia Keys, Cat Power, Lana Del Rey and Taylor Swift, which raises the prospect that Swift may attend the event and bump into her One Direction star ex, Harry Styles.
Winehouse, who was eligible as a result of the release of her Lioness: Hidden Treasures album, is thought to be the first nominee to be included posthumously.
Although Freddie Mercury won a Brit in 1992, a little over two months after his death, that was an honorary award for his outstanding contribution to music.
Other performers who will play at the ceremony - officially called the Brit Awards 2013 with MasterCard - include Muse, Robbie Williams and Sande.
The outstanding contribution prize is being dropped this year, with organisers introducing a prize honouring Brits' global success, which is expected to go to Adele, although One Direction and the Mumfords are thought to be in the running.
A special recognition prize will be presented to the charity Warchild.