The EU's chief Brexit negotiator has said a deal with the UK is "still possible this week".
Michel Barnier told reporters in Luxembourg on Tuesday: "Our team are working hard. This work has been intense all along the weekend and yesterday.
"An agreement will be more and more difficult, to be frank, but still possible this week."
Following a written statement, Mr Barnier went on: "Reaching an agreement is still possible. Obviously any agreement must work for everyone: the whole of the UK and the whole of the EU.
"But we add it is high time to turn good intentions into legal text."
Frantic negotiations between UK and EU representatives are continuing in Brussels on Tuesday.
Mr Barnier's latest comments contradict those of Finnish prime minister Antti Rinne, who said a deal can't be reached in time for Thursday and Friday's crucial EU summit and that "more time" is needed.
UK housing secretary Robert Jenrick also rejected the remarks last night, saying a "great deal" of progress has been made and that negotiators are working "very intensively".
He told the BBC's Newsnight: "The EU is capable of moving extremely quickly if they wish to. Like any negotiation with the EU, and in fact with any major negotiation in life, everything happens at the last minute.
"This was always going to be both complicated and come down to the final hours and days, so this doesn't surprise me. We are going to work round the clock to try to secure it."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, meanwhile, has reportedly postponed a scheduled Cabinet meeting on Tuesday as talks to hammer out a new deal ahead of the October 31 deadline recommence.
Mr Johnson’s planned Downing Street update was said to have been delayed until Wednesday so he can give more detailed information on efforts to strike a new agreement.
