Preparations:Foundations for yesterday's dramatic developments at Stormont were set in place at proximity talks on Sunday night involving Martin McGuinness and Peter Robinson.
The Sinn Féin chief negotiator and the deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party did not have face-to-face discussions. However, they did work in neighbouring offices at Stormont Castle a short distance from Parliament Buildings and communicated through senior officials.
Among the documents transferred between the two were drafts of the leaders' statements.
What they agreed formed the basis for the groundbreaking events that were to unfold.
The day at Stormont began with the DUP standing by its call for a delay in the establishment of a powersharing executive at Stormont as mandated by its 120-strong party executive meeting in Belfast last Saturday.
That meeting, described as one of the most pivotal in the party's history, overwhelmingly backed a resolution supporting powersharing, but delayed until May.
The Irish Government as well as the other parties had voiced initial opposition to the plan, and called for the March 26th deadline to be met.
However, it became evident by early yesterday that agreement among the leaderships of the DUP and Sinn Féin on a new date for devolution and powersharing meant that the two governments could buy into what they had agreed.
Shortly after 10.30am Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams led a delegation of 10 senior members from the ground floor offices in Stormont through the great hall and up the impressive staircase towards the members' diningroom where they were to hold their first direct talks with the DUP.
The Democratic Unionists had already decided against a grand entrance and took their places out of the public gaze.
As had been agreed previously, the two party leaders took their places at the apex of a diamond-shaped table. Dr Paisley and Mr Adams sat almost side by side - not facing each other in opposition.
The Sinn Féin leader was accompanied by Martin McGuinness, Mary Lou McDonald and Caitríona Ruane.
Peter Robinson and Nigel Dodds sat beside Dr Paisley. There was no handshake between the two leaders.
Talks between the delegations took place in private before both Dr Paisley and Mr Adams read from their prepared and cross-checked scripts.
The DUP leader spoke first, repeating lines from his party's resolution agreed on Saturday.
Referring to the March 26th cut-off point for devolution, he said: "In the past the [ British] government has set arbitrary deadlines." In a key point of his statement he added: "But now, as laid out in our resolution we, as a party, have agreed the timing, setting up and working of the institutions. Today we have agreed with Sinn Féin that this date will be Tuesday, 8th May, 2007."
He went on to commit himself to "regular meetings" with Martin McGuinness and for his colleagues to engage in "important preparatory work" before May 8th. Dr Paisley also confirmed along with Sinn Féin that there would be another meeting on a peace dividend with the British chancellor, Gordon Brown.
His comments were then endorsed by Gerry Adams who expressed disappointment at the breaching of the March 26th deadline. However, he added that the agreement with the DUP to share power "marks the beginning of a new era in politics on this island".
Later a series of bilateral meetings with other parties began.
In nearby Stormont Castle, Northern Secretary Peter Hain hailed the meeting as "a breakthrough" and he likened it to the accord between Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk in South Africa at the end of apartheid.