Sinn Féin left the talks claiming it had seen no new proposals from the British and Irish governments capable of resolving difficulties concerning the visibility of IRA decommissioning.
Senior figures such as Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness were not present. However, the delegation, led by Mr Alex Maskey, said they were encouraged by the governments' determination not to "park" the process and to search for a solution "on a daily basis".
"I made the point that our party leadership are trying to come up with other creative ideas that may well be available to try to get us out of this considerable problem that we are in at the moment. But others will have to do likewise."
He said the issue of photographs was "a dead issue".
Sir Reg Empey, head of the Ulster Unionist delegation, said: "We have told the governments that we oppose these proposals." The UUP continues to fight against the allocation of speaking rights in the Dáil to Northern elected representatives. A UUP spokesman said this issue was a "deal-breaker".
The SDLP's Mr Mark Durkan said the purpose of SDLP participation was to help solve problems "even if those problems are about the sensibilities of paramilitaries and even if those problems are in relation to the demands and requirements of bigots under reconstruction".