D-day is approaching in the New Zealand election result. D for discussions that is.
Two weeks after voters headed to the polls, Kiwis are still no clearer on whether it'll be National or Labour that forms the next government.
That decision is up to kingmaker Winston Peters and his party NZ First who hold the balance of power.
He's vowed he'll not even start serious talks until after the official results are revealed on Saturday, but expects a decision to be reached by October 12.
The leaders only made first contact on Monday and met face-to-face on Thursday for the first time since the election.
But those were only preliminary talks if the length of the meetings - just 30 minutes each - are anything to go by.
It seemed little more than a chance to unveil the negotiating teams which include the leaders, senior MPs and trusted staff.
NZ First and Labour included their respective deputy leaders Ron Mark and Kelvin Davis in the talks, but National's Paula Bennett was left out in the cold.
The deputy position is one that could be put on the table as a bargaining chip, though Mr Peters says he's "been there and done that".
National leader Bill English brought in trusted senior MPs and his chief of staff, while Labour leader Jacinda Ardern's team included MPs, advisors, her chief of staff and the big gun, former deputy prime minister Sir Michael Cullen.
National can offer Mr Peters a simple two-party coalition while securing themselves a fourth term in power.
Labour needs NZ First and the Green Party to reach 61 seats, the minimum for a majority in the 120 member parliament.
Mr Peters' position as kingmaker was long predicted in the lead up to the election and through his campaign he outlined a series of bottom lines.
A manned re-entry into the Pike River Mine, where a series of explosions killed 29 men in 2010, appeared to be a top priority on Thursday morning.
Before coalition talks, Mr Peters met with the families of victims who have been fighting for re-entry into the drift in the hopes the bodies of those killed can be recovered.
Mr Peters has long supported manned re-entry, even volunteering earlier this year to be the first to enter.
Bernie Monk, Sonya Rockhouse and Anna Osborne, who lost sons and a husband in the disaster, emerged from the meeting saying for the first time in seven years they felt real hope that maybe one day their loved ones could be returned to them.
Labour and the Greens support re-entry to the mine's drift while the National Party believes unmanned exploration is the way to go.
