Rishi Sunak held meetings with each of the five main Stormont parties - but all eyes were on his talks with the DUP.
The Prime Minister spent much more time locked in discussions with the DUP compared to any other party during his hastily arranged trip to Northern Ireland.
While the others breezed through their bilateral meetings on Friday morning at the five-star Culloden Hotel outside Belfast, the DUP's dragged on.
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Sir Jeffrey Donaldson eventually emerged with colleagues shortly after the Prime Minister slipped out a side door and departed in his motorcade without speaking to the press.
The DUP leader clutched a piece of paper with notes as he addressed the assembled media - a sign perhaps of carefully choosing his words over the coming days.
In a change of tone, Sir Jeffrey acknowledged there had been "real progress" on unionist concerns over Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol, but also said "some outstanding issues" remain.
“Clearly this is a big moment," the DUP leader said, as momentum builds towards a potential deal between the UK and European Union.
And with reports that a resolution could be announced by Tuesday, it is coming close to the point where the DUP will have a big decision to make.
Other party leaders welcomed talks with the Prime Minister but emerged from their meetings with scant new detail on the nature of any breakthrough settlement.
It will fuel fears that not enough consultation has been carried out to convince unionists their concerns have been addressed. SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said he believed Mr Sunak was "ticking the box" of engaging with the parties.
There is scepticism any deal will ever be enough to win over the most hardline of unionists.
In assessing an agreement, the DUP will be looking over its shoulder at TUV leader Jim Allister, loyalist activist Jamie Bryson and May’s council election campaign.
But if the largest unionist party continues to block power-sharing, there may be little appetite within the UK government to go back to the table and renegotiate.
If that happens, Stormont could remain in limbo for some considerable time to come - and calls will grow for power-sharing rules to be reformed.
Sealing a deal with the EU, selling it to the DUP and keeping Tory Eurosceptics at bay will be huge challenges for the Prime Minister.
Has he done enough? We may not have long to wait to find out.
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