In front of a good crowd, Notts batted first and were making steady progress before Chris Woakes took the first wicket when he had Patel caught by Ant Botha.
It was Botha who took the second wicket with the score on 78 when Hales, who had made 34 gave Jim Troughton a catch.
Enter Imran Tahir, who came in and took four wickets for 27 from eight overs. This haul included the wickets of Chris Read who had made 35 and Adam Voges who had hit a top score of 54 including three fours.
Notts were now 161-6 and three runs later, Franks was out for one. That gave Woakes his second wicket and this was followed by Neil Carter taking the wickets of Adams and Mullaney.
With Notts running out of overs as well as wickets, Keith Barker ended the innings when he bowled Fletcher for two, to see Nottinghamshire all out for 192.
Warwickshire had England internationals Jon Trott and Ian Bell back in the team and Trott opened with Neil Carter.
The pair put on 61 before Carter was caught by Adams off the bowling of Mullaney. Trott kept making runs and 39 were added before Keith Barker was stumped by Read after making seventeen.
That brought Trott and Ian Bell to the crease. Trott passed the fifty mark as did Bell before he was caught by Mullaney with the score on 187.
Trott went on to make an unbeaten 84 before Jim Troughton hit the winning runs to steer Warwicks to a seven run victory and a semi-final against Yorkshire at Scarborough.