Photo: RNZ
The leaders of National and ACT are on their way home to Auckland, where they will meet with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters on Wednesday.
The first meeting between all three is a significant step forward in their ongoing efforts to form the next government.
National leader and incoming Prime Minister Chris Luxon and ACT leader David Seymour were in the capital on Tuesday, while Peters remained in Auckland.
Speaking at Wellington Airport, Luxon told RNZ it had been a "good" day with "productive conversations".
"We're making progress but there's more to do."
Asked if he had expected Peters to be in Wellington as well on Tuesday, Luxon said: "There were good, productive meetings at all levels and good intensive conversations - it's been great."
Seymour was on the same flight out of Wellington, and told RNZ they had had "a couple of meetings with our colleagues in the Nats [National Party]" in Wellington.
"Obviously, we'd hope to meet with our colleagues in New Zealand First but they were in a different city, nonetheless, here we are."
It was a "risky business" to assume where Peters was "these days", said Seymour, but he confirmed ACT would meet "with the Nats more tomorrow in Auckland".
He was reluctant to go into any details about whether the meeting would include New Zealand First: "We'll have a meeting, and the location… we'll see."
There were "a series of further meetings booked to, again, just keep sharpening those pencils, improving that agreement so we get the best agreement and the fastest agreement possible".
"Let me just say it's in a secure but undisclosed location, and that's not trying to be tricky - it's just that we really do want to get this done as quickly as possible."
NZ First leader Winston Peters and Darroch Ball departing ACT headquarters. Photo: RNZ / Craig McCulloch
Peters had "not given a reason" for not coming to Wellington on Tuesday, "but there could be many reasons that I think we should leave to him", he said.
In Peters' absence, Seymour said there had been "a lot of good work".
"We've continued to work through with National on areas of agreement and disagreement. We want a solid, public policy-heavy agreement because the challenges New Zealand is facing are large.
"And the government's response is going to have to be nimble, detailed and decisive, and that's what we're working towards."
Today marked a month from the general election, and Seymour acknowledged "everyone, everywhere wants everything all the time to be better and faster, there's no question about that".
"All I can say is I think ACT has been first up and ready to deal with whomever; we've reached out first and we've been engaging first in order to get to the result that we want and I think we've played a good role in it so far."
Asked how far negotiations had progressed, Seymour said "there are areas where we're certainly, I guess you could say, dotting the i's, there's areas… of substance that we still have to work out".
"But what's important is that we are not going to get the fastest agreement, but we're going to get the best agreement - and I think that's an important distinction."
All of his dealings with Peters had "actually been very professional", he said.
"That's all I can say. Obviously it's helpful to be in the same city but there's clearly been some miscommunication there and I'll leave it to him to explain his location."
ACT leader David Seymour leaves NZ First's offices after a brief meeting with Winston Peters. Photo: RNZ / Craig McCulloch
Seymour said he'd been in Wellington "primarily" to meet with National and "thought [Peters] would be here too".
A potential threesome in the capital had turned into a twosome today, but Seymour joked it "could be worse - we could be in a foursome, but at least that'd be good for playing golf".
RNZ understands Peters was presented with a proposal by National at the end of last week, but found it unacceptable - so meetings and calls with both of the other leaders continued over the weekend and throughout Tuesday.