[en] We discuss the effects of nuclear dissipation of fission probabilities that are characteristic of a diffusion model of the fission process. Reproducing the experimental fission probabilities at low excitation energies fixes the ratio asub(f)/asub(n) of the level density parameters for a given strength of the reduced dissipation coefficient β. These low energy constraints on asub(f)/asub(n) and β balance the effects of transients on neutron multiplicities prior to fission at higher excitation energies. For the competitive decay of ¹⁵⁸Er formed in the reaction ¹⁶O+¹⁴²Nd at 207 MeV we show that due to transients only the multiplicity of pre-fission neutrons is enhanced with respect to the prediction of the statistical model in a manner consistent with our earlier general analysis. (orig.)