It wasn't even a case of would he stay or would he go. The two governments and the pro-agreement parties were already accepting of David Trimble's resignation when they gathered at Hills borough Castle for talks yesterday.
The big day when the post-dated resignation letter would come into play was still 72 hours away.
Was Mr Trimble having second thoughts? Certainly, he wasn't in the best form before his discussions with the Taoiseach and Mr Blair.
The head was bobbing, the finger wagging, and his face grew redder by the minute as he took questions from the media. Mr Trimble said he expected the international decommissioning body's report, to be published imminently, to show no movement by the IRA.
He was sick of excuses on the arms issue. He wouldn't be taking any more "flim-flam" from republicans. He became particularly irritated when pressed on whether he would appoint a substitute First Minister.
The Shinners were in better humour, but they made an effort to look sober and sedate in keeping with the gravity of the situation. Gerry Adams arrived at Hillsborough Castle in a gleaming Mercedes. Long gone are the days of the battered black taxi. Still, Mr Adams believed Sinn Fein remained oppressed. He accused the other parties of "ganging up" on his over decommissioning.
Sinn Fein's gang was undoubtedly bigger than all the other parties yesterday. Pat Doherty, Gerry Kelly, Martin McGuinn ess, Michelle Gildernew, Bairbre de Brun, all trooped in with Mr Adams.
Seamus Mallon will automatically cease to hold office when Mr Trimble resigns, but he was taking it in his stride. Emerging from the talks, he cracked jokes about losing his title and suggesting that he could still be referred to as DFMBNIN, "Deputy First Minister But Not In Name".
He was asked how the talks inside had been. "Exciting," he replied with a wry smile.
The Taoiseach and Mr Ahern gave a brief press conference to announce that fresh talks to rejuvenate the peace process would start next week.
Nobody expected there to be any progress at Hillsborough Castle yesterday and there wasn't. The parties and the governments just went through the motions.
Normally, Northern hacks are obsessed with local politics. But so uninspiring were yesterday's events that they even managed to ask Mr Blair a series of questions about Slobodan Milosevic.