CONDEMNED drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van is trying to live his last days to the fullest, his closest friends say.

He has even helped arrange his funeral, picking out the songs he wants.

"It is quite clear he has accepted what is going to happen and his primary concern is how we're going to be coping and whether we're going to be OK," Bronwyn Lew said after visiting Nguyen yesterday.

She said he told them: "If you're going to cry, please cry in front of me so that we can through this together.

"Do try to be strong; it's OK to cry. But it will hurt me a lot if you walk away and cry by yourself, because I won't be here to comfort you."

Another friend, Kelly Ng, said there was much crying and laughter during the visit.

She said Nguyen had already planned his funeral, right down to the music to be played and who will give the eulogy.

His body is expected to be flown back to Australia following Friday's execution.

Ms Lew said Nguyen's acceptance of his fate had given him a strong sense of calm.

"He's really embracing life to its fullest and is appreciating every second and every minute he has with his loved ones," she said.

In a television interview, the two Melbourne women said Nguyen was spending his last days writing letters to his friends and supporters.

They said he prays and sings hymns.

"He lives for the moment, because he understands how important it is to appreciate the time that we have left," Ms Lew said.

"He hasn't mentioned the number of days he has left because, to him, I don't think it's a countdown of days.

"To him it's more, 'So, let's live for what we have now . . . this might be the only time we have left for the rest of our lives to share our presence with each other, at least we have this time and that's what we should be appreciative for'.

"I know that he is going to be OK."

The Melbourne friends spoke of sharing "happy tears" with Nguyen.

"Seeing him be at peace gave me a sense of relief and happiness for him, and I was able to truly tell him that I was really happy that he was at peace," Ms Ng said.

"He really wanted just to make sure we're OK and told us that we need to accept it as well."

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Condemned drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van is at peace and living the last days of his life to the fullest, his friends say.

He has even made arrangements for his own funeral, picking out the songs he wants.

The Melbourne man is scheduled to hang at dawn on Friday, but is in surprisingly good spirits, Kelly Ng and Bronwyn Lew said after visiting Nguyen in Singapore's Changi Prison.

While Singapore hangman Darshan Singh has hinted at a possible eleventh hour reprieve for the 25-year-old drug trafficker, all legal avenues to save the Australian appear exhausted.

With time ticking away before he is due to be taken to the gallows, Nguyen's distraught mother Kim, twin brother Khoa, and friends Ng and Lew on Tuesday continued to say their goodbyes with extended visits.

Ng said in pooled TV interviews: "He looks very well, he's been keeping himself very well, and I think that's just because he wants to live life to the fullest while he still can."

Lew added:"It is quite clear that he has accepted what is going to happen and that his primary concern is how we are going to be coping and whether or not we are going to be OK."

The Melbourne friends spoke of sharing "happy tears" with a man who has come to terms with his looming execution.

"Seeing him be at peace gave me a sense of relief and happiness for him and I was able to truly tell him that I was really happy that he was at peace," Ng said.

"He really wanted just to make sure we're OK and told us that we need to accept it as well. And that if we wanted to cry we should cry with him because he's of better use being there for us, rather than having us walk away in tears. That would just hurt him more."

Lew said a "radiant" looking Nguyen was making the most of the time he has left.

But Nguyen has also made plans for his funeral, in part to save his friends the trouble.

"He just mentioned the songs he wants played (at the funeral)," said Ng. "He says that he wants to look his best."

Those visiting Nguyen are separated from him by glass, but Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has appealed directly to the Singapore government to let Kim Nguyen hug her son before he is hanged.

"I would have thought it's not an unreasonable thing for a mother to hug her son before the son is executed," Downer said.

Lawyer Lex Lasry left Melbourne for Singapore on Tuesday still hoping for a reprieve, but admitted that Nguyen's case looked "close to hopeless".

"This is a young man who is ready to die, and he's ready to die a good death and a brave death," he said.

Singapore hangman Darshan Singh suggested Nguyen, sentenced to death after being caught at Singapore airport with nearly 400 grams of heroin, could still be spared.

"Maybe they may say at the eleventh hour ... they may give him a life sentence, it's still possible," the 74-year-old told Reuters.

Singh has carried out hundreds of executions in a career spanning 48 years and said if he was called on to hang Nguyen, he would be efficient.

"With me, they (the prisoners) don't struggle. I know the real way. If it's a raw guy, they will struggle like chickens, like fish out of the water," Singh said.

Mr Lasry said he hoped whoever executed Nguyen knew what they were doing, adding: "If our client must die, I want him to die a painless death. I don't want him to suffer."

Singh supports the anti-drug laws in Singapore, which has repeatedly rejected Australian calls for Nguyen to be granted clemency.

"You are talking about the life of one drug trafficker. But what about the thousands who suffer because of the drugs? They become complete failures, their lives are ruined," he said.

A Sikh who converted to Islam, Singh said execution was a means of "complete rehabilitation".

"I'm changing their character to a different one because I believe in rebirth and they will be better men next time."

NGUYEN Tuong Van's legal team has not completely given up hope that an unexpected twist might save their client from the gallows, although pessimism is setting in.

This was reflected by nothing so much yesterday as a heartfelt plea from senior counsel Lex Lasry for the 25-year-old Australian to at least be able to kiss his mother goodbye.

"I think everybody is appalled at the prospect that Van and his mother would have to say goodbye to each other through glass," he said of the hanging scheduled for dawn on Friday.

"I would urge them with all the force that I can muster to be humane about this and at least permit physical contact."

Mr Lasry was last night flying to Singapore where Nguyen's mother, Kim, together with other family members and friends, as well as local lawyers, are trying to comfort the condemned man.

There were some late suggestions on possible legal challenges, including one from the federal Attorney-General's Department that it might be possible to argue he is constitutionally entitled to lodge a new formal application to Singapore's head of state for clemency.

Mr Lasry said he and his colleagues would examine the idea but conceded the case looked "close to hopeless" and they were "running out of ammunition".

One adviser to Nguyen's legal team said he thought a challenge over clemency would at best result in a temporary delay as the Government would re-affirm the death sentence.

But a Sydney University international law expert, Don Rothwell, said in the event of a delay Australia could notify Singapore of a dispute under the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation that Canberra is about to accede to.

Mr Lasry said yesterday that pleas were still being made to Singapore to relent.

"It's not too late for Singapore to recognise the injustice in this case and change their mind," he said. "Assuming that doesn't happen, the answer is yes, this would be a goodbye trip."

The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said yesterday that he had made a request through the Singapore high commission in Canberra for Nguyen's mother to at least be able to hug and kiss her son before he is executed rather than having to communicate through a glass barrier. "So far the Singapore Government is considering this request," he said.

"But I would have thought this was not an unreasonable thing for a mother to hug her son before the son is executed."

A former Governor-General, Sir William Deane, said yesterday that Singapore's mandatory death penalties breached current principles of international law.

New advice from the Australian Solicitor-General, David Bennett, suggested that on one reading of Singapore's constitution, there could be more than one appeal for clemency to its head of state. But the office of the Attorney General, Philip Ruddock, was yesterday playing down such an appeal's prospects.

MARK COLVIN: Australia says it will ask Singapore to let the mother of the condemned Australian, Van Nguyen, hug her son for one last time before he's executed on Friday.

Kim Nguyen has asked the Singapore Government to relax its no physical contact rule, and the Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer is backing her request.

In Changi jail, Nguyen has been visited by family and friends, who say the 25-year old seems to have come to terms with his fate.

Shane McLeod reports from Singapore.

SHANE MCLEOD: With just three days remaining until Van Nguyen is hanged, extra hours have been allowed for friends and family to visit him at Singapore's Changi Prison.

After meeting him face to face for the first time since May, friend Bronwyn Lu says she was taken by the spirit in which the 25-year old is preparing for Friday.

BRONWYN LU: To see him for the first time since then was wonderful. Just being able to share his presence made me understand and realise that everything really is going to be okay.

SHANE MCLEOD: Ms Lu says it seems his biggest concern is for friends and family.

BRONWYN LU: He said, 'If you're going to cry, please cry in front of me so that we can go through this together. Don't try and be strong. It's okay to cry. But it will hurt me a lot if you walk away and you cry by yourself, because I won't be here to, to comfort you.'

SHANE MCLEOD: Kelly Ng says Nguyen appears to be in good spirits, despite the circumstances of their visit.

KELLY NG: To see him be at peace gave me a sense of relief and happiness for him. And I was able to truly tell him that I was really happy that he was at peace.

And he really wanted just to make sure that we were okay. He told us that we need to accept it as well.

SHANE MCLEOD: The extra visiting hours aren't enough for Nguyen's mother Kim, who wants the Singaporean Government to allow her to hug her some one final time before he's hanged.

Prison regulations limit physical contact. Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer is hoping Singapore will agree to the request.

ALEXANDER DOWNER: That's a, a very, a very significant issue. It's one that I've had raised with the Singapore Government and I've made it clear to the High Commissioner that he should, should tell the Singapore Government that I am personally very exercised about this.

And so far the Singapore Government is simply considering this request. But I would have thought it was not an unreasonable thing for a mother to hug her son before the son is executed.

SHANE MCLEOD: In Singapore, the tale of Nguyen is beginning to attract more attention.

Outside Changi Prison this morning were reporters from The Straits Times, Singapore's establishment newspaper.

The paper has also reported on controversy surrounding Singapore's hangman, Darshan Singh, whom one Australian newspaper said had been sacked for talking to the media. Singapore's prison service says that's not the case and says Singh continues to be a contract officer with the department. However, it hasn't said who'll be presiding when Nguyen is executed on Friday.

Before them, efforts continue to secure a last minute reprieve.

While there appears to be a degree of resignation about the young man's looming fate, the faint hope of him being saved from the gallows continues to flicker in the hearts of his supporters.

This is Shane McLeod in Singapore for PM.