And isolation cells will be ready on Saturday on Nusakambangan, the penal island where the executions will take place.

This latest news will send chills through Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who were told the delays to their transfer from Bali's Kerobokan jail were because the isolation cells were not ready at Nusakambangan.

It has previously been announced the drug felons will be executed swiftly once they arrive on the island so as not to unsettle other prisoners. They will be given 72 hours' notice.

Attorney-General H.M. Prasetyo is yet to announce the proposed date of execution, or when Chan and Sukumaran will be transferred to Nusakambangangan, known as Indonesia's Alcatraz.

A spokesman for the Attorney-General, Tony Spontana, said the execution would take place in one location.

"It will be done simultaneously with all 10 convicts," he said.

He denied media reports that the location had been decided, saying several alternatives were being reviewed.

Meanwhile the head of Central Java Corrections, Ahmad Yuspahruddin, said the isolation cells were being prepared and would by ready by Saturday.

"It's nothing permanent, it's just to separate those on death row who are to be executed from the rest of the prisoners," he said.

Across the seaport town of Cilacap, which is divided from Nusakambangan by a narrow strait, people are on standby for the executions.

The local priest believes at least three of the 10 condemned prisoners are Catholics, and is waiting to be asked to perform the last rites.

The doctor at the government health office wonders if his ambulance will be called upon, as it was when three murderers were executed in 2013.

The undertaker, Suhendro Putro, has stocked up on an extra six coffins. He was warned by police to have sufficient this time after he was caught short when five drug felons were killed on the island on January 18.

He can usually only accommodate nine coffins, but he now has 12, including one jumbo size and two for children.

Despite ghoulish speculation in the media that the jumbo-size coffin has been earmarked for Sukumaran, who is nicknamed "the gentle giant", the large coffin had been in stock for three months, Mr Suhendro said.

He has received no definitive order from police and, like many in the seaside port, is relying on media reports for details on the number facing execution.

Shortly after midnight on January 18, Mr Suhendro waited with the families of the five condemned felons at Batu prison, which means "stone" prison. This is the most notorious of the seven prisons on Nusakambangan, and is where Sukumaran and Chan will also be incarcerated before their deaths.

"I heard the shots and then the families started screaming and crying," he said. "I felt nothing because they were not my family but still I feel sad looking at their families ... I thought 'How come it should end like this? If they were my family I wouldn't want to be there.' "

He was called to wash and dress the bodies of the Christian, Catholic and Buddhist prisoners using five water tanks at a site 20 metres from the execution.

The Muslim prisoners, whose faces must point towards Mecca, were cleansed by a Muslim.

Mr Suhendro assumed the police supplied the clothes in which he dressed the prisoners because they were brand new. He provided gloves, socks and cylindrical cushions to ensure the bodies did not move in the coffins.

Mr Suhendro said he did not support the death penalty for murder. However, he believes in capital punishment for narcotics offenders because he says drugs destroy the lives of many.

To the bemusement of his family, Mr Suhendro, who has been in business since 1972, has become something of a media celebrity in recent weeks. He consulted authorities on how to deal with the media and was told: "Answer all the questions but not the secret ones."

Across town, Bambang Setyono from the government health office, is awaiting instructions on whether his ambulance will be deployed.

In 2013, his staff drove the ambulance to the ferry dock following the execution of three murderers. It was then used to transport two of the bodies to Yogyakarta for burial.

An acquaintance of Dr Setyono was called upon to check that the prisoners were dead after the firing squad pumped their bodies with bullets.

It was an unpleasant experience and one he does not want to re-live for the media.

Father Charlie Burrows, known by locals as Romo Carolus, says it is difficult for doctors because they take the Hippocratic oath - known in Indonesian as Sumpah Kedokteran.

"This says you shouldn't be involved in taking another's life," Father Burrows says.

He believes he will be called on to administer last rites to three of the prisoners, who are Catholic.

"Some of the others could be as well," Father Burrows said. "We strongly ask that we be present beforehand to counsel and listen to families and be present at the execution."

Staff at the harbour - where Chan and Sukumaran will be transferred on the ferry Pengayoman (which ironically loosely translates as "protection, shelter, care and nurture") - are on high alert for journalists.

Local media caused havoc during last month's elections by posing as fishermen to gain access to the island.

Daily Mail Australia journalist Candace Sutton will be interrogated by immigration officials in Cilacap on Thursday after she was caught working on a tourist visa.

As the noose tightens for the 10 facing execution, another of the prisoners on death row is attempting a last-ditch legal appeal.

Nigerian Raheem Agbaje Salami, who was caught smuggling 5.3 kilograms of heroin into Indonesia in 1998, is trying to get President Joko Widodo's rejection of his clemency plea nullified on the grounds it was not rejected within the time limit.

His lawyer, Utomo Karim, is lodging the challenge in the Administrative Court. This is the same court that threw out Chan and Sukumaran's appeal on Tuesday on the grounds it did not have the power to rule on presidential decrees. The duo's lawyers are appealing.

Mr Karim said his client hoped the appeal would get him a reprieve and see his sentence revert to 20 years' imprisonment. "And that during the court process, he not be executed," he said.

"The reasoning used by us and the Bali nine lawyers might differ, but in essence it's the same, we are trying to get a presidential decision nullified."

However, a spokesman for the Attorney-General has said the Bali nine appeal will have "no effect" on the execution.

With Amilia Rosa and Karuni Rompies