Leaders of Tokyo's 2016 Olympic bid remain confident that their campaign will survive Sunday's election for city governor.

Polls indicate incumbent Shintaro Ishihara will win a third term but his strongest challenger, Shiro Asano, has increasingly stated his opposition to the city's bid.

The international relations director for the Tokyo bid insisted it was business as usual in the campaign to bring the Olympics back to the city for the first time since 1964.

"We are continuing to work towards winning the bid, regardless of the Tokyo elections," Yasuhiro Nakamori told Reuters on Thursday.

"We carry on believing in this bid and business goes on as normal. We are working very hard to make this bid a success and that's all."

However, Asano has said he would suspend plans to host the Games and use the money on tax incentives for Tokyo companies.

"People are going to have opinions about what would happen (if Asano wins)," Nakamori said.

"You can't say the bid would be squashed. We will cross that bridge when we come to it."

Polls have shown a rising tide opposed to staging the Olympics in Tokyo, Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun saying 67 percent of those surveyed wanted the bid to be scrapped.

Fuelling public concerns are the projected billions it will cost -- fears which forced Sapporo and Nagoya out of the race to become Japan's bid city.

Last year, the Japanese Olympic Committee selected Tokyo ahead of Fukuoka for the 2016 bid nomination.

Other bids for the 2016 Olympics are expected from Chicago or Los Angeles, Rio De Janeiro, Madrid, Rome, Prague and Doha.

The International Olympic Committee will formally open the application process in May, with a September 15 deadline for national Olympic committees to enter nominations.

The 2008 Summer Games take place in Beijing next year with the 2012 Games to be held in London