Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide on Friday, escaping the more serious charge of murder for the killing of his girlfriend, and will now battle to avoid going to prison.

The 27-year-old double amputee, who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, stood impassively in the dock, his hands folded in front of him, as Judge Thokozile Masipa delivered her verdict.

Pistorius was also convicted of firing a pistol under the table of a packed Johannesburg restaurant but cleared of two other firearms charges - illegal possession of ammunition and firing a pistol out of the sun-roof of a car.

Masipa based her culpable homicide decision on the fact Pistorius had acted negligently when he fired four shots from a 9mm pistol into a toilet door in his luxury Pretoria home, killing Steenkamp, who was behind it, almost instantly.

He said it was a tragic error after he mistook her for an intruder.

Culpable homicide - South Africa's equivalent to manslaughter - carries up to 15 years in prison but, given Pistorius's lack of previous convictions, he could avoid a custodial sentence altogether, legal experts said.

"It could range from a suspended sentence to stiff jail sentence. It could even be the imposition of a fine or community service, or it could be ... house arrest," said Stephen Tuson, law professor at Johannesburg's University of Witwatersrand.

"The court will take into account the degree of negligence or recklessness," he added.

Criminal law expert Martin Hood expects a non-custodial sentence.

"He's almost certainly, in my opinion, not going to be going to jail," he told South Africa's ENCA television.

Masipa set sentencing for October 13 and granted a bail extension. Flanked by police and bodyguards, a stone-faced Pistorius made his way out of the court through a scrum of reporters, television cameras and on-lookers.-Reuters