DERRYN Hinch could be in jail next week after naming sex offenders, even as he waits for a life-saving transplant.

The 3AW drive-time host said yesterday he had been advised by the Office of Public Prosecutions that it would ask that an immediate term of imprisonment be imposed on him next Friday, when he appears for sentencing in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court.

Hinch, who is battling liver cancer, was charged with contempt of court for naming two sex offenders at a public protest rally on the steps of Parliament in 2008.

In March, he lost a High Court constitutional challenge to secrecy provisions in Victoria's serious sex offender laws.

Following the dramatic 48 hours in which Hinch thought he was to finally have an urgently needed liver transplant, he told his listeners: "It has been an incredible roller-coaster ride of emotional ups and downs, and hopes raised and then dashed."

At 11.10pm on Tuesday, Hinch received "the call" from the liver transplant unit telling him a donor liver had become available.

He rushed to Melbourne's Austin Hospital.

"The deadline for going under the anaesthetic kept getting pushed back and back. And finally, after nine hours of preparations and waiting, the bad news: the donor liver and my liver were not compatible," Hinch said on 3AW.

"(It was) what they call a dummy run, which really they are not.

"They are genuine, meticulously planned operations that for myriad reasons can be aborted."

Resting at home late on Wednesday night, after his Austin Hospital dash, Hinch discovered the OPP's plans.

"Drained and desperate for sleep, when (wife) Chanel and I thought nothing else could happen, it did," he said.

"We received a letter from the Office of Public Prosecutions ... (informing us) they will submit to the court that an immediate term of imprisonment is appropriate.

"They are playing hardball, and that option is open to them," he said.

byrnef@heraldsun.com.au

Originally published as 'They want to jail me next week'