It's not surprising tempers were fraying in the Senate as the argy-bargy over the carbon tax fizzled out for yet another day without resolution.
The Abbott government has been trying in vain to repeal the carbon tax for days, even vowing to keep senators in the chamber until they agree to abolish it, after botching it in the Senate last week.
But that threat had little impact on Wednesday, with Labor and the Australian Greens chewing through hours of time debating just one amendment - much to the annoyance of coalition senators.
"After about 40 hours of debate in relation to these measures in this place we still don't have a resolution," government Senate Leader Eric Abetz railed in question time.
The cabinet minister left to handle the filibuster was Mathias Cormann, who eventually stopped answering the onslaught of questions from irate opposition senators.
Labor dragged out the final debate stages with questions about the Palmer United Party's amendment to ensure price cuts from the carbon tax repeal are passed fully onto consumers and businesses.
The Greens took a similar line of questioning and quizzed the finance minister about the government's promised $550 saving for households from the repeal of the carbon tax.
"We can go round and round in circles," Senator Cormann said, invoking ire from his opponents.
But the government is hoping for a breakthrough soon without having to go through with its threat and keep senators holed up in Canberra until the legislation passes.
There's optimism among senior government ranks that they won't need drastic action, with Christopher Pyne confident the bills will be repealed "today or at the latest tomorrow".
The chance of a repeal was remote late on Wednesday as the Senate considered other business, including the maiden speeches of two new senators.
But the stage is set for a showdown on Thursday.
The bills were poised to pass last week but that backfired when Clive Palmer pulled his support at the eleventh hour, accusing the government of double-crossing him.
The government has since struck a deal with the Palmer United Party, and its three senators, and the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party's Ricky Muir are back on board.
They will provide the government the crucial crossbench votes it needs to repeal the tax when a vote is eventually called.
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