GSTAAD, Switzerland - The first winter snow cloaked the cosy Swiss Alpine village of Gstaad on Tuesday as it prepared for Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski's long heralded arrival at his local chalet on bail.

Called "Milky Way", the new but traditional style wood-clad building on the edge of the upmarket ski resort was shuttered late Monday, as Gstaad's pre-season picture postcard sleepiness was marred by a posse of journalists, photographers and TV satellite vans.

Polanski was expected to be released on conditional bail from Monday, according to a Swiss official last week, against a 3.0 million euro bond and house arrest in his second home inside Switzerland.

The 76 year-old was also ordered to surrender his identity documents while he stays within the confines of the chalet with an electronic surveillance bracelet and awaits a ruling on a US extradition request for a child sex conviction.

But a source close to the case ruled out "any activity" in the short term, while regional police in the canton of Bern, which covers Gstaad, declined to comment on his possible arrival.

Late Monday, the French consul general in Zurich, Jean-Luc Faure-Tournaire, told AFP after he visited the French-Polish film director in a jail that Polanski still had to make a bail payment.

But in and around Gstaad's traditional chalets the local inhabitants did not appear to be too fussed about the glare from the waiting media crowd.

"All this attention on Gstaad is rather positive, it's giving us some publicity," said Gabriel Geadah, owner of a local hotel and restaurant.

Although he only bought a chalet more recently, Polanski has often stayed in the western Swiss resort over the past decades.

The village is also well versed in dealing with the accompanying fallout from upper-crust celebrities from around the world.

"We know him, we used to see him pass by and we're happy that he's getting out of prison," Geadah added.

At the local town hall, the same courteous atmosphere reigned.

"The inhabitants are not at all irritated by the media presence and the attention our village is receiving," said Armando Chissale, head of administration at Gstaad-Saanen municipality.

"We're used to having personalities in the community and we live side by side peacefully, even if the situation is rather particular at the moment," he explained.

Work began on installing the electronic surveillance equipment in Polanski's chalet over the weekend, the Swiss weekly Sonntagszeitung reported.

As long as he does not leave his 1,800 square metre (19,400 square foot) property, he will be able to receive "anyone he likes and lodge them as he likes," federal justice office spokesman Folco Galli said.

Anyway, the telltale footsteps in the snow, watchful media crowd and winding mountain roads might put paid to hopes of a quiet and swift escape to the closest French border post, just 67 kilometres (42 miles) away.