Google has set a deadline of tomorrow for investors to register their interest in its initial public offering (IPO) - the latest sign that it intends to proceed with the share sale as planned.

Bidders would have until Thursday to complete the identification process needed to take part in the offer, with the auction set to take place "shortly thereafter", the company said. The price of the IPO could then be set by the middle of next week, according to one person familiar with the matter.

The timetable laid out in the company's official filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission does not set a firm schedule for the auction but the end of the registration period means the company could start taking bids as early as late tomorrow.

The news signals again that the slide in internet stocks in recent weeks and uncertainties caused by the unusual IPO process have not deterred Google from pressing ahead with the offering.

Google had planned to limit the registration for its IPO to "approximately one week" but the process will have been open to individual investor for 13 days by Thursday.

Logistical problems led to a delay in registering institutional investors, prompting Google to keep the process going longer than planned.

That, in turn, has pushed the auction later into August than the company's underwriters had hoped, adding to the danger that it will attract less interest during one of the stock market's quietest periods.

The delays, along with the reversal in internet stocks, has left questions over what once seemed set to be the hottest IPO on Wall Street in years.