Hundreds of hopeful whale-watchers lined the River Thames at Teddington today as they tried to catch a glimpse of the whale, which had moved up river from Isleworth instead of making its way back out to sea.

TV film crews and a news helicopter were on the scene as the four metre baby minke whale moved between the Teddington Weir and the river next to the Wharf restaurant.

Many photographers lined the banks, many with telephoto lenses, trying to capture that elusive image of the emerging fin.

Nub News was on the spot and managed to snap the whale at various positions as to moved up and down the river, surfacing briefly and tantalisingly for onlookers.

The Teddington RNLI crew patrolled the section of the river but admitted it was helpless unless the creature beached in lower depths of the river.

The whale was first seen at 7pm last night near Richmond Weir and Lock where it became trapped on the lock's boat rollers.

It was freed at 1am after a joint operation by the Port of London Authority, the RNLOC, London Fire Brigade and the British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

The Port London Authority (PLA) told Sky News the whale was freed at 1am after a joint operation by the London Fire Brigade, a Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) crew, and the British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

An early-morning witness account said the distressed whale was spotted near Isleworth but by mid-morning the whale was swimming up and down the river at The Wharf restaurant and Teddington Weir.

Teddington's footbridge was jammed with sightseers with mobile phones, binoculars as well as professional photographers.

A Channel Four crew was rumoured to have captured 'fantastic film' of the whale will be shown on the main news at 7pm tonight.

3.30pm update

The distressed whale became ensnared on undergrowth next to the brick wall of the Flying Cloud Café.

It could be heard 'blowing' as it tried to escape.

At precisely 3.08pm the whale managed to extricate itself from the undergrowth and surfaced fully as it swam back into the main river. A loud cheer from onlookers greeted the movement as it vanished from sight again.

Ten minutes later the whale returned to the same spot where it could be seen flapping its tail in distress. Police asked onlookers to step back in case of harmful emissions from its blow hole.

According to a police officer at the scene chemicals are being added to the water to make the whale drowsy so it could then be rescued.