Kemi Badenoch was on Thursday firing the gun for the official race to pick a Conservative candidate for the London Mayor contest.
The Standard understands that Tory hopefuls will have less than two weeks to put their name forward.
Former Home Secretary Sir James Cleverly is seen as the frontrunner, having quit the shadow Cabinet to launch his bid to be Mayor of London.
Westminster councillor Festus Akinbusoye, a former Bedfordshire police and crime commissioner, is also seeking to be the Tory contender.
The deadline to enter the selection process was expected to be September 30.
It is understood that a Conservative selection panel will whittle the number of contenders down to two.
Hustings are then expected to take place for the two potential candidates to lay out their platforms to run City Hall.
Conservative members in the capital will then vote to pick their chosen contender who is expected to be in place before the end of the year.
Braintree MP Sir James, who also served as Foreign Secretary, has already won a wave of support for his mayoral bid, including from more than half of Conservative councillors in London.
However, Tory leader Mrs Badenoch has made clear that she wants to cast the net far and wide to find the best possible candidate.
The timetable means the Tories will have a candidate in place far earlier than last time, when London Assembly member Susan Hall was picked in the summer of 2023, around a year before the 2024 contest.
The selection is also earlier than when Tory Zac Goldsmith was chosen in October 2015 for the 2016 election.
A Conservative source told The Standard: "This shows how seriously we are taking the London Mayoral election in 2028.
“It could be our best shot since Boris (Johnson) won in 2008 and catapulted us to power in Westminster.
“Sadiq Khan has been an absolutely woeful Mayor of London and the sooner he is replaced the better."
Lord Sadiq Khan, who took up his seat in Parliament this week, is expected to decide next year whether to seek a fourth term in City Hall.
If he opts against such a move, a number of Labour MPs are expected to throw their name into the hat to be Labour’s candidate for mayor.
They include Brent East MP Dawn Butler, former Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, as well as Tooting MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan.
A recent poll suggested a majority of Londoners want Lord Khan to call it a day after three terms as mayor.
However, another survey found that if he went for a fourth term he would be the strong favourite to win.
Reform UK picked its mayoral candidate, former Westminster councillor Laila Cunningham, at the start of the year.
She has made law and order a centrepiece of her campaign, arguing that London is not safe.
However, a recent report by King’s College London stressed that many people overestimate the level of crime in the capital.
Lord Khan has defended his record as mayor, hitting out at people who seek to portray London as a “fallen city”.
