The first meeting of a powersharing executive involving Sinn Féin and the DUP could be delayed until May under current Assembly arrangements, reliable Stormont sources have said.
If ministers are nominated, devolution restored by the Northern Secretary and powers transferred to Stormont by Monday's deadline, it may not be necessary for the executive to hold its first meeting for at least five weeks.
This could fulfil the British and Irish governments' insistence that devolution proceed next week and satisfy the DUP's desire for a "bedding-down" period.
Such a possibility may be central to ongoing DUP discussions with the British government and also internally when the party meets tomorrow to discuss going into government with Sinn Féin.
Assembly sources told The Irish Times that Northern Secretary Peter Hain will restore powers to Stormont effective from midnight on Sunday if he is satisfied the parties will nominate ministers to the 10 government departments.
The sources said this needs to happen by midnight tomorrow. This would pave the way for Monday's crucial meeting of the Assembly, at which an executive would be appointed.
If this does not happen, sources said there is no alternative in law to Stormont's closure.
However, it is possible that a "bedding-down" period could then commence, which may help meet the concerns of unionists sceptical of Sinn Féin's stance on policing.
Under the terms of the St Andrews Agreement there will be no Assembly meeting on Monday if Peter Hain does not sign a Restoration Order.
But if events go to plan it is hoped that the d'Hondt formula to allocate ministers to departments will be run during Monday's meeting, a process that could take up to 90 minutes.
If the process runs smoothly members will have just three more items on the Order Paper to address - the nomination of a new Speaker, the election of a business committee to handle Assembly affairs, and appointments to the Assembly Commission, which runs Stormont.
It is understood a further plenary session of the Assembly is unlikely before the Easter recess. Assembly members gather again on April 16th but no plenary session is planned. Members instead are expected to deal with proceedings of the Business Committee.
A plenary session is planned for the following Monday but no questions are to be put to ministers in the chamber. Ministers' questions are not scheduled to take place until Monday, April 30th, a full five weeks after ministers will have been appointed.
It is thus possible that no meeting of the executive would be deemed necessary until that time at the earliest.
Government sources have insisted repeatedly there will be no extension of Monday's deadline in the face of DUP pressure for more time to test Sinn Féin delivery on policing.
However, if there is no meeting of the executive for some weeks after ministers agree to take up office this could provide sceptical DUP members, including East Derry MP Gregory Campbell and North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds, with some time in which to "test" republican delivery on PSNI support.
Mr Campbell told BBC Radio Ulster yesterday he was unhappy on several counts with Sinn Féin and the British government.
Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson said: "Our strategy has been to hold out to get the best deal that we can. That's why there will be more meetings right through the next 48 hours. Only then will we be deciding what we do next Monday."
Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness said: "Come the end of Monday you will see a first and deputy first minister and 10 other ministers appointed."