Martin Johnson is still involved in a Rugby Football Union disciplinary hearing, four hours after it started.
England captain Johnson faces the three man panel following his punch on Saracens hooker Robbie Russell, knowing that he could be banned from the potential Six Nations title decider against France in Paris on Saturday week.
Johnson was summoned by RFU disciplinary officer Robert Horner after he punched Russell during a Zurich Premiership game 12 days ago.
Scottish international Russell was left requiring six stitches to a cut beneath his left eye in an incident caught clearly by television cameras.
Johnson's hearing, at a hotel on the outskirts of Bristol, started at 5.20pm tonight.
But four hours later, there was still no sign of a conclusion.
Johnson was accompanied at the hearing by Leicester rugby director Dean Richards, chief executive Peter Wheeler and a three-man legal team.
The RFU panel comprised specialist criminal lawyer Richard Smith QC, senior RFU vice-president Derek Morgan and RFU Council member Richard Moon.
Wheeler is understood to have left the hearing early, but as the clock ticked around to four hours of debate and discussion, a verdict still proved elusive.