More than a week after New Zealand's election, both the National and Labour leaders have finally spoken to the man who will decide their fate.
National leader Bill English called NZ First leader Winston Peters spoke on Monday morning.
Labour leader Jacinda Ardern also called and spoke to Mr Peters later on Monday morning.
The calls are the next step in coalition negotiations, which have already included staff from each of the parties making contact with each other.
Preliminary talks between the three leaders are expected to take place this week.
In revealing on Monday morning that he'd made first contact Mr English admitted he was concerned about the tight turnaround for coalition talks.
Mr Peters has said he will wait until after special vote results are released on October 7 before entering formal negotiations.
He intends to reach a decision by October 12.
His party's nine seats added to National's 58 would give the two parties a strong majority of 67 in a 120-seat parliament, though Mr Peters could also help Labour and the Green Party over the line with their respective 45 and seven seats to create a 61-seat bloc.
The specials tend to favour the left and there's speculation they could take two seats off National and give one each to the two left-leaning parties.
