It feels like a Wild West stand-off, one where no-one has yet blinked.

Should nothing change, tomorrow we will discover what happens to an under-resourced service, struggling to care for some of the most vulnerable patients in the health system, when 200 senior doctors quit.

This morning, some of those involved behind the scenes in the negotiations were saying the NSW Government had successfully portrayed its dispute as being about doctors wanting to inflate their pay packets.

And certainly, the line from the ministers has been a simple one — it cannot afford to raise salaries by 25% for a group of doctors they describe as well-paid.