Olympic inspectors signed off from their London visit by praising the city's bid for the 2012 Games. Evaluation Commission leader Nawal El Moutawakel gave little away as she and her team ended their four-day visit.
But she indicated they had been impressed by London's plans, support from The Queen, political parties, key sporting figures and the public.
"They all spoke with passion. We could feel it, hear it and see it," she said.
"The bid committee must be congratulated on the quality of the candidature and the presentations, the professionalism with which the process has been handled and the leadership of a great Olympian and good friend, Sebastian Coe.
"We had a very nice dinner with The Queen and were delighted to learn that she is backing the bid."
 The 13-strong inspection team |
The Queen broke with Royal tradition and apparently waved the inspectors off from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after Friday night's dinner.
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, clearly delighted the visit had passed so smoothly, said: "She insisted she was going to be there to wave the bus off through the gates of Buckingham Palace so they would have felt well celebrated."
Bid leader Lord Coe, who has known El Moutawakel since 1984 when the pair both won Olympic golds in Los Angeles, bade farewell to the inspectors pleased that his team had done "everything humanly possible" to bring the Games to the city.
The Olympic inspectors are not allowed to rank bids and do not vote on the winner, but he and the team will be boosted by El Moutawakel's warm words.
"The commission has been very impressed with the level of involvement of distinguished athletes in London," she added at Saturday's news conference, their only contact with the media.
During its four-day inspection, the IOC team heard presentations on the 17 key criteria bidding cities must meet.
The 16 members also visited the site of the planned Olympic zone around Stratford in the east of the city, and toured a number of key venues.
"In terms of legacy, what we have seen so far is very important to the UK and the Olympic movement," said El Moutawakel.
"Lea Valley is a very impressive project. If London 2012 gets the Games, it will be a very good urban and sporting legacy."
The IOC raised concerns about London's transport infrastructure and the spread of venues in its preliminary evaluation of the city and its rivals Paris, New York, Madrid and Moscow last year.
 |  We've done everything humanly possible |
El Moutawakel said she was pleased sports like shooting had now been brought closer to the main Olympic zone, and added that transport information supplied by Coe's team would be studied in detail.
The commission's report will be published no later than 6 June, one month before the 117 IOC members vote for the winner in Singapore.
"The evaluation commission does not make any decision nor rank any city," said El Moutawakel.
"It produces a technical report and risk analysis to help the IOC members make their decision."
El Moutawakel insisted the controversy surrounding London mayor Ken Livingstone's remarks to a Jewish newspaper reporter would not affect the bid's chances.
She also said there had been no discussion with The Queen about reported comments that Paris would win.
Having visited Madrid and London, the IOC team will begin its inspection of New York on Monday before continuing on to Paris and Moscow.
And there was a warning that any cities that received poor technical reports might not even make it as far as the final vote in Singapore.
"This is an extremely high-level competition," said El Moutawakel, who also told the rival cities to respect strict rules preventing them from criticising each other.
"The quality of the five cities is a credit to the sport and the IOC is very happy to have such great cities bidding to host the Games in 2012.
"There are five very strong cities in this race, but there is only one winner in the end."
MMIX
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