"Ambassador Roy Cimatu is still in talks with the group of young officers, and because the negotiations are ongoing we cannot really say that the talks have effectively ended" and the deadline has expired, Arroyo spokesman Ignacio Bunye said over local radio.

"Let us just wait for feedback from our negotiator."

Reporters on the scene said there were no signs of an impending assault as night fell.

Senator Rodolfo Biazon, who joined talks with the mutineers, said official government negotiator former armed forces chief Roy Cimatu continued to meet with the rebel troops at a posh service apartment in the Makati financial discrict they had seized.

"I think the presence of the official negotiator automatically extends (the deadline)," said Biazon, also a former general who helped put down a bloody coup attempt in 1989.

Biazon said he and two other senators had "already opened communications and we started exploratory talks" and it was now up to Cimatu to pursue the discussions.

Some rebel demands "are doable now" while others can be resolved in the future, he said without elaborating.

The mutineers, led by young officers who graduated from the elite Philippine Military Academy (PMA), had earlier demanded the resignation of President Gloria Arroyo and Defence Secretary Angelo Reyes, whom they accused of corruption and supporting Islamic militants.

"What is important is that communication lines were opened," Biazon said.

WAR.WIRE