A British court could give a final decision on Monday on whether WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange should be extradited to the United States over the mass leak of secret U.S. documents, the culmination of 13 years of legal battles and detentions.

Two judges at the High Court in London are set to rule on whether the court is satisfied by U.S. assurances that Assange, 52, would not face the death penalty and could rely on the First Amendment right to free speech if he faced a U.S. trial for spying.

Assange's legal team say he could be on a plane across the Atlantic within 24 hours of the decision, could be released from jail, or his case could yet again be bogged down in months of legal battles.

"I have the sense that anything could happen at this stage," his wife Stella said last week. "Julian could be extradited, or he could be freed."

She said her husband hoped to be in court for the crucial hearing.

Assange is wanted by the United States on allegations of disclosing national defense information following WikiLeaks' publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked military documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars a decade ago, which included footage from an Apache helicopter documenting the U.S. military gunning down Reuters journalists and children in Baghdad's streets in 2007.

His many global supporters call the prosecution by the United States a travesty, an assault on journalism and free speech, and revenge for causing embarrassment. Calls for the case to be dropped have ranged from human rights groups and some media bodies, to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other political leaders.

Assange has been held at southeast London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since 2019. Britain approved his extradition to the United States in 2022 under then Home Secretary Priti Patel after a judge initially blocked it on Assange's mental health concerns. Assange and his lawyers have appealed since then.

(With input from agencies)