OSCAR Pistorius should serve at least 10 years in prison for killing his girlfriend, the state prosecutor said at the close of the South African track star's sentencing hearing.

Judge Thokozile Masipa adjourned the session until Tuesday, when she is expected to sentence Pistorius and end a six-month, on-off trial that has captivated millions worldwide.

The 27-year-old Paralympic and Olympic athlete, whose lower legs were amputated when he was a baby, was convicted of culpable homicide last month for the shooting of 29-year-old law graduate and model Reeva Steenkamp.

"The minimum term that society will be happy with will be 10 years' imprisonment," chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the hearing. "This is a serious matter. The negligence borders on intent."

It was the first time ­prosecutors have said what sentence they are seeking for the double-amputee Olympic runner for shooting his girlfriend.

The defence and prosecution teams have spent much of the five-day sentencing hearing arguing over whether Pistorius should go to jail or be punished with house arrest and community service. A non-custodial sentence would be likely to spark public anger and fuel a perception among black South Africans that, 20 years after the end of white-minority apartheid rule, wealthy whites can still secure preferential justice.

"We shouldn't fail the parents. We shouldn't fail society. Society may lose its trust in the court," Mr Nel said, adding a house arrest sentence would be "shockingly disproportionate" to what Pistorius did in the pre-dawn hours of Valentine's Day last year when he shot four times through a toilet cubicle door in his home, ­killing his girlfriend.

Defence attorney Barry Roux earlier said the double-amputee sprinter should be given community service because he had shown remorse and been punished enough. Pistorius said he mistook Miss Steenkamp for an intruder.