Let $G$ be a locally compact Hausdorff group. It is known that $G$ can be topologically embedded in $W^{\ast}(G)$ , its universal $W^{\ast}$-algebra (with the $\sigma$-weak topology). An element $T \in W^{\ast}(G)$ is a function assigning to each representation $\pi$ a bounded operator $T(\pi) \in B(H_{\pi})$. This $T$ must be compatible with interwiners and $T(\pi)$ must be uniformly bounded.
This was done (in a slightly different language) by J. Ernest in A new group algebra for locally compact groups.
Now define $G_{\otimes}= \{ T \in W^*(G)_{\neq 0} / T(\pi_1 \otimes \pi_2) = T(\pi_1) \otimes T(\pi_2) \}$
It's not hard to see that elements in $G_{\otimes}$ are unitaries. This is briefly proven in Yuhjtman - Some considerations regarding the universal $W^*$ algebra of a topological group (proposition 4.2).
Now Tatsuuma's duality theorem applies (Tatsuuma - A duality theorem for locally compact groups, I, proposition 2) so $G=G_\otimes$. But $G_\otimes$ is closed and inside the unit ball, so it is compact (always $\sigma$-weak topolgy). Therefore $G$ is compact.