The North's Parades Commission has agreed to a review of its decision to bar the Orange Order's Drumcree parade from passing down the nationalist Garvaghy Road on Sunday.
The commission agreed to the review after meeting a group of unionist councillors representing Craigavon Borough Council, the council area in which the parade takes place. The councillors included Mr David Jones, the spokesman of the order's Portadown district, and Mr Jonathan Bell, the council's DUP deputy mayor.
Mr Jones said they had not proposed any changes to the march and they expected the commission to make its decision in the next few days. A spokesman for the Parades Commission said the determination would probably be given some time today and added that it was obliged to review any decision if formally asked.
The largest loyalist paramilitary grouping, the UDA, announced it had "no intention to cause or engage in violent activity at Drumcree".
However, it said it reaffirmed its support for the "fundamental right of the Orange Order in Portadown to parade their traditional route down the Garvaghy Road", and did not call on its members to stay away from Drumcree hill on Sunday.
Individual members would exercise their right to show solidarity with their fellow loyalists at Drumcree if they so chose, it said.
Mr Gary McMichael, the leader of the Ulster Democratic Party which is associated with the UDA, said he believed its statement was quite positive.
The Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, urged those who might be planning violence at the weekend or in the days ahead to "in God's name keep out of this dispute and allow reason and discussion to find a way forward".
He also appealed to all involved in this dispute to avoid words or actions which would give any individual or group an excuse for violence.
Mr Brian Currin, the South African mediator who has been trying unsuccessfully to broker a deal between the two sides in the Drumcree dispute, also urged loyalist paramilitaries to stay away from the area on Sunday in the best interests of a long-term settlement.
Mr Currin said that while the dispute remained unresolved, it did not mean a settlement would elude the parties for ever.
While the unionist Craigavon councillors maintained they were representing all the people of their area, two SDLP councillors and others picketed the Parades Commission over the group's entirely unionist composition.
Representatives of the SDLP and Sinn Fein also met the commission to urge it not to revoke its decision. Ms Brid Rodgers of the SDLP said the unionists did not represent 42 per cent of the population of Craigavon.
The Sinn Fein MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone, Ms Michele Gildernew, welcomed the decision of Mr Jones to engage with the commission, but added: "The Orange Order now needs to be engaging in dialogue with the residents where they want to parade, not trying to enforce their might on communities."