The study, which was conducted by the University of Applied Sciences Campus 02, Joanneum Research and Graz University of Technology, concluded that a Winter Olympics in the region is "possible without great risk".

A reliance on existing sporting infrastructure and local sporting expertise would supposedly mean that "cost explosions as in Games in the past could be excluded from the beginning".

The proposed €1.137 billion budget would be dependent on no public money, the study concluded, while a domestic revenue projection of €1.67 billion (£1.48 billion/$1.93 billion) was forecast.

Public money would be required for security and possible infrastructure projects related to the Games, however.

It was also estimated that organising the Games would create 24,300 full-time jobs and almost one million extra tourists during Games-time itself. 

"Graz could thus position itself on the world map in the long term and get a priceless advertising value," the study concluded.

The report will now be studied by Graz's economic and tourism councillor Barbara Eibinger-Miedl and sports and finance councillor Anton Lang.

It remains to be seen if they, and the Austrian public, will agree with such a positive appraisal.

"We reviewed the numbers of the study countless times and consciously assessed revenues and expenditures as conservative," said Austrian Olympic Committee secretary general Peter Mennel.

"In the end, we always come to the same result: $925 million (£707 million/€800 million) from the IOC (International Olympic Committee), which only flows when we bring [the] Olympics to Austria, an invaluable advertisement for Graz - and all this at calculable risk. 

"I can only appeal to the Styrians to take advantage of this opportunity."

A similarly positive study about a sustainable Olympic bid from Innsbruck did not prevent the bid suffering a crushing defeat in October when a referendum was held. 

A total of 53.35 per cent of those who voted rejected the idea in the public ballot in the Tyrol city in October.

The Communist Party of Austria is already collecting signatures for another ballot in Graz, with 10,000 names required to force a vote.

Figures involved in the bid have pointed out that laws in Graz and Styria appear to stipulate that referendum results are not binding. 

Calgary in Canada, Sapporo in Japan, Erzurum in Turkey, Stockholm in Sweden and either Milan, Turin or Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy are other cities still bidding for the 2026 Games.

Calgary could face a referendum at the end of this year while a bid from Sion in Switzerland was scuppered earlier this month after a failed vote.

A final decision on who will host the Games is set to be made next year.