be down to the wire
To be unresolved until the last possible second. Negotiations are down to the wire, and I'm worried we won't agree on a new contract by the deadline.
*down-to-the-wire
Fig. waiting until the very last moment; right up to the deadline. (*Typically: be ~; get ~.) It came down-to-the-wire before I turned the proposal in. We went right down-to-the-wire on that one.