Leonardo DiCaprio 'wins' Oscar three weeks early

Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street.

The groundswell of goodwill propelling Leonardo DiCaprio towards his first Oscar win appeared to have made a crucial breakthrough when CNN broadcast footage apparently confirming his Best Actor success - three weeks ahead of the ceremony.

During a report of the Academy Awards luncheon ahead of next month's ceremony, a screen grab showing a plaque with 'Academy Award to Leonardo DiCaprio' was posted online where it was quickly seized upon as evidence that, after four previous unsuccessful nominations, the star of Wolf of Wall Street had finally bagged a statuette.

But, at the risk of quelling fans' excitement, voting for the Academy Awards only begins on Friday, and nameplates are made for every nominee in advance of the ceremony.

Gold plates are added to winners' trophies at the post-Oscars Governors Ball and redundant plaques are recycled.

In 2010, industry insider The Hollywood Reporter, wrote that "RS Owens, the company that manufactures the Oscar statuettes, will create 197 nameplates - to factor in all the potential winners - in advance. Each engraving will include name, category, film title and year."

DiCaprio, who stars in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, has yet to win an Oscar despite being nominated four times. So, understandably, his fans are keen for him to finally take home the goods.

Hopes were raised when CNN panned to an engraved plaque during anchor Ted Rowlands' Monday night tour of the Chicago factory that makes the statuettes.

The nameplate read: "Academy Award to Leonardo DiCaprio, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, The Wolf of Wall Street, 2013."

Viewers noticed that the camera quickly moved away from the nameplate, leading many to believe that the US channel had revealed the result by mistake.

Did CNN just accidentally showed Leonardo DiCaprio as this year's Oscar Best Actor winner? #Oscars2014 pic.twitter.com/OsnRIrBoZH

Oscars night is not until Sunday, March 2, when Ellen De Generes will host a star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles.

DiCaprio, 39, is nominated for Best Actor alongside Christian Bale for American Hustle, Bruce Dern for Nebraska, Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave and Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club.

McConaughey has been widely-tipped to win Best Actor after he was awarded the Screen Actors Guild's Best Actor accolade.

The 44-year old won a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for the same role as AIDS sufferer Ron Woodroof.

- Independent