The virtual medal table, released by Dutch company Infostrada Sports, considers results from World Championship and World Cup events across the Olympic sports, with changes taking place to the table as new results are compiled.

The US are predicted to win 99 medals, including 46 gold, an increase on the July projection and a haul which would see them finish comfortably clear of China.

They are predicted to win 72 medals, 31 of them gold.

Russia, unexpectedly pushed down to fourth place by Britain at London 2012, meanwhile, are estimated to win 75 medals, including 22 golds.

Fourteen of these US victories would come in athletics, it is forecast, a number that could change following the World Athletics Championships in Beijing later this month. 

Germany, France and Australia are predicted to occupy the next three positions.

Australia are tipped to win 12 golds, five more than they managed in a largely disappointing campaign at London 2012.

Britain, who excelled on home turf to finish third on the medals table and ahead of Russia at London 2012, are estimated to finish on just 10 golds and 48 medals this time around, down from 29 gold and 65 medals.

That is a long way short of the target Team GB have been set by the British Olympic Association of Government funding agency UK Sport of winning more medals in Rio de Janeiro than they did at London 2012, which would make them the first host country to be more successful in the first Games after they have hosted them. 

Japan are expected to finish eighth, with New Zealand and Brazil each forecast to surpass previous performances, placing ninth and 10th respectively.

Brazil are expected to be win nine golds, three times as many as they took in London.

Another projection by expert Luciano Barra, former sports managing director of the Italian National Olympic Committee and deputy chief executive of the 2006 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Turin, who has been praised for the accuracy of his predictions, also has Britain down to win just 10 golds in his latest forecast.

This is thanks to continued Lottery Funding investment in high performance sport, they clai, with diving, fencing, hockey and taekwondo having all met their performance targets for the year so far.

Track cycling performed well below expectations at February's World Championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, however, winning just three medals, and no golds.

Interestingly, Barra predicts China to top the overall medals table ahead of the US, meanwhile, with Russia third, France fourth and Australia fifth.

The relatively disappointing US performance at the World Aquatics Championshps which finished in Russia last week is partly attributed for this fall, with Barra noting how the US did select their team 12 months before and that at the same time they were holding their National Championships.

This will not happen next year, when Olympic Trials will be held shortly before the Games and Michael Phelps could be back on the team. 

Related stories
March 2015: United States predicted to top Rio 2016 medal table with 500 days to go until Olympic Games
October 2014: US to top medals table at Rio 2016 ahead of China and Russia, projection claims