Although there are no Australians in the first group, Bali Nine ringleader Myuran Sukumaran had his clemency plea rejected last week and Indonesian President Joko Widodo has warned he will have "no second chances". Moreira's lawyer, Utomo Karim, who was with him in his isolation cell until 11pm, told Fairfax Media the Brazilian was in a state of shock, sadness and fear. Moreira was imprisoned in 2003, after attempting to enter Jakarta airport with 13.4 kilograms of cocaine hidden in tubes used for hang gliding. Mr Karim said Moreira spoke at length with consular staff in his isolation cell last night. He told them he didn't want to to die and urged the Brazilian government to do everything it could to prevent him from getting killed. Mr Karim said in a last-ditch attempt the Brazilian government sent a letter to Indonesia asking it to extradite Moreira and allow him to serve out the remainder of his sentence in Brazil.

Mr Karim said his client was terrified he was going to be executed on Wednesday night and begged prison guards to execute him where he was rather than transfer him to Besi prison. Indonesia's method of execution has not changed since a decree signed by its first president in 1964. Prisoners are woken in the middle of the night in their isolation cells in secret locations. They are offered blindfolds, and asked if they would like to stand, sit or lie down before being executed by a firing squad. "Marco was too stressed last night to think of any request for his last wish. But he did say he wants his family here," Mr Karim said. He said the delivery of the execution information was rushed. No crime carries the death penalty in Brazil.

"The Brazilian population will be very concerned if this happens – it would be the first time this has happened to a Brazilian national abroad," a Brazilian government source told Fairfax Media. Mr Joko has taken a hardline against drugs, telling a university audience last month that he would reject the clemency applications submitted by 64 convicts who were sentenced to death in drugs cases. These 64 official killings were necessary, he said, because Indonesia was in "a state of emergency on drugs" with people dying daily. The last person executed in Indonesia was Malawi citizen Adam Wilson in 2013, who was found guilty of smuggling one kilogram of heroin from Thailand into the country via his Indonesian girlfriend in early 2002. Murder, drug offences and terrorism can all carry the death penalty in Indonesia.

Foreign nationals from Thailand, Pakistan, India and Nigeria have also been executed.