The building was still unstable but a plan had been developed to search inside it, Fire Service special operations national manager Jim Stuart-Black told TVNZ.
"From our point of view we feel we can safely operate within a risk envelope," Mr Stuart-Black said, adding one area was too risky but he felt the rest of the hotel could be searched today.
"Any building is a potential building where we could find somebody. What we have to do is balance the risk associated with committing people."
It is more than two days since a survivor was found in the quake's rubble, and overnight rescuers again had their hopes of finding a survivor raised and swiftly dashed.
Reports of life under the wreckage caused a flurry of activity but it proved yet another false alarm, Mr Stuart-Black said.
"We haven't had an active contact for some period of time now, but in terms of last night's operations we did have an indication of a live find," he said.
An investigation by a stand-by team sent to the site determined it was a false alarm.
No one has been found alive since Ann Bodkin was lifted from the mangled wreckage of the Pyne Gould Corporation (PGC) building about 3pm on Wednesday. The toll from the quake is 113, with 226 people still unaccounted for.
Searches were continuing at the PGC building and at the Canterbury TV building, where most of the missing are feared to be, Mr Stuart-Black said.
Rescuers were systematically removing layer-upon-layer of rubble and wreckage, in the hope of finding a pocket where people could have been trapped.
Police have said the CTV building was unsurvivable, and so far only bodies had been found.
"It's long it's hard, it's difficult work and it's taking some time, and regrettably...it's only been the deceased we've been encountering," he said. "It's emotionally difficult work...but these are professional individuals this is what they're trained to do."
