Belief is growing within the Ulster Unionist Party that Mr David Trimble will put his leadership on the line at a special meeting of the party's Council within the next fortnight in a desperate bid to save the Belfast Agreement.
As the Mitchell review was technically adjourned yesterday until Monday, pro- and anti-agreement unionists privately predicted Mr Trimble would risk a serious party split to secure the proposed deal with Sinn Fein to break the devolution-decommissioning deadlock.
While Ulster Unionists braced themselves for the long-promised showdown, sources close to Mr Trimble were predicting he could win a Council vote by 500 to 300 votes.
However, that assessment was sharply disputed by one of Mr Trimble's leading anti-agreement dissidents, who said Mr John Taylor's opposition to the deal as it now stands presented a serious challenge to Mr Trimble.
In New York the Taoiseach said that while the Government was sparing no effort to overcome the impasse, putting pressure on the UUP or Mr David Trimble was not the best way to proceed.
Mr Ahern, who was addressing the National Committee on Foreign Policy, lavished praise on Senator George Mitchell. "Today I asked him to stay until Monday, but I will not ask him to stay any further. He has done his bit." Mr Ahern added that "a final few days more are worthwhile if we get the prize we all seek".
The British government is said to be engaged in a major drive to shore up the position of Mr Trimble. The main task in hand is to persuade dissidents in the UUP to see the merits of the deal.
The Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, is understood to have been heavily involved in efforts to get the doubters in the Assembly party to give the package their support, with some success.
London's view is that the unionists need time to consider the issues at stake. The deal on offer can deliver IRA guns in due course, unionists are being told.
While the UUP leadership has had 10 weeks to gauge Sinn Fein's sincerity and seriousness of purpose, the same opportunity has not been afforded to the lower ranks of the party.
Unionists are being reassured, first of all, that the deal is a good one and, secondly, that they will not suffer any adverse consequences if the republican movement fails to keep its promises. No decisions were taken at yesterday's meeting of UUP officers at Glengall Street, to which Mr Trimble reported on the latest political situation.
However, it is understood he gave notice that the officer team might have to reconvene shortly to consider a special meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council, should there be a successful conclusion to the Mitchell review.
Meetings of the ruling body can be called by the officers with a minimum seven days' clear notice, or by petition of at least 60 delegates within 21 days. While technically the decision is for the officers, one anti-agreement member of the team said there was no question of any attempt being made to deny Mr Trimble a direct appeal to the party's rank-and-file.
Even as official sources indicated that the negotiation with Sinn Fein had been concluded, and that amendment of the proposed deal was unlikely, Mr Trimble was understood to be pressing for further clarity on the timetabling of the envisaged decommissioning process.
However, the Ulster Unionist leader was battling against a generally held belief that the "bottom line" republican position has been reached, and the widespread perception - fuelled by apparent republican briefings earlier in the week - that the proposed nomination of an IRA interlocutor to interface with the International Commission is not a guarantee of actual decommissioning to follow.