Jordaan is upbeat about South Africa's chances

South Africa's bid came out top in the technical assessment published on Tuesday following visits to the five candidates by the world body's inspectors.

"It's always good to be announced first in the class. It's a good feeling, but there is still a lot of work to be done," said Danny Jordaan, chief executive of South Africa's bid.

"It was very important for us to have a good technical report, and I'm very, very happy that that has been achieved.

"We're working very, very hard, and we're going to work until the 15th, in the morning, when we are told we have to stop," he added.

I'm reasonably happy with our position Danny Jordaan SA bid chief executive

The 2010 hosts will be known on 15 May after a vote by Fifa's 24 executive committee members in Zurich.

Four years ago, South Africa missed out on hosting the 2006 tournament by one vote to Germany.

"Indeed, the voting [for 2006] mirrored the report exactly," said Jordaan.

"Given the fact that we lost 2006 by one vote and we ranked equal to Germany, it's very important to us to have a good report again."

The Fifa report noted the South African public's enthusiasm and government backing for the 2010 bid, as well as the country's "excellent overall infrastructure" and "world class tourist attractions".

It sounded a note of caution over "questions over security" in the country, known for its high crime rates.

But Jordaan said South Africa had shown several Fifa executives, including president Sepp Blatter, at last week's presidential inauguration that they could handle security at big events.

Jordaan said: "If your definition of security takes into account the post-September 11 world, then we feel pretty secure.

"For the Fifa members... some of them came to the inauguration and they were happy.