I got released about an hour early in Dec from hotel standby.

I had called the scheduler asking for a 4-hour early release and he said the same thing as above - "that's up to GOC, not me"

he went on to say they usually don't even think about letting you go until inside an hour to go - told me to call back at the 1-hour to go point.

I called him back at 1-hour left, he called GOC, and they released me.