A Russian balloonist looks set to smash the world circumnavigation record set by the late Steve Fossett 14 years ago.
He will even slow down so he doesn't arrive back in Western Australia at night.
Depending on wind conditions, Fedor Konyukhov, 64, is expected to land somewhere between where he left - the town of Northam 95km northeast of Perth - and the Goldfields town of Kalgoorlie on Saturday morning.
That would mean he will have flown his hot air balloon around the world non-stop in 11 days, breaking Mr Fossett's 2002 record of 33,000km in 13 days and eight hours.
Mr Konyukhov's son Oscar said the adventurer had covered more than 30,000km by mid-afternoon Friday and would have to ease off on his current speed of 220km/h so he could safely land after sunrise.
"He is just roaring," he told AAP.
"He needs to go down from 8000 metres to like 4000 metres and stay there."
Mr Konyukhov has been enduring Antarctic winds and temperatures as low as -56C while flying up to 10,000 metres - and his gondola heater stopped working overnight.
"I still don't know how he survived this night," his son said.
"It's something to talk with him about once he lands."
Mr Konyukhov is wearing an oxygen mask, grabbing moments of sleep when he can, living on light but healthy food such as energy bars and thawing his water supplies using the balloon's main burner.
"It's not a holiday," his son laughed.
This was the biggest adventure his father had embarked on, topping formidable achievements including reaching five extreme poles such as Mount Everest and the pole of inaccessibility in the Arctic Ocean.
"This was the most intense so far. Everything is so difficult because at the speed you're travelling, if you make a mistake ... leave the jetstream, you can stay there for a week and you will run out of fuel and ditch into Antarctic waters and that's it.
"It's a very risky operation."
He said he was intensely proud of his dad but had been nervous tracking his progress.
"What he has achieved so far - only a few people can do this, only a few people can survive and he is one of the few people.
"It has been a very, very intense two weeks."
While Mr Konyukhov's support team is focused on a safe landing, he has already planned his next adventure in 2017: crossing Australia from west to east riding a camel.
"He told me `the next project will be easy for you. It will be a 5km/h an hour passage. It will be easy for you to track ... not to worry'."
