So many journalists and trial-watchers were on hand for the final arguments in the murder of Meredith Kercher that the judges moved the hearing into the largest available courtroom in the Court of Cassation.
A decision had been expected as early as today, but with a full caseload and other court matters tomorrow, the presiding judge said a ruling may not come down until Friday.
The court could decide to throw out the convictions and order a third appeal trial. Less likely, it could overturn the convictions without ordering a retrial, tantamount to an acquittal.
To date, the high-profile legal saga of Knox and Sollecito has produced flip-flop
guilty-then-innocent-then-guilty verdicts, polarising observers in three nations. Knox has been portrayed alternately as a victim of a botched investigation and shoddy Italian justice, or a promiscuous predator who falsely accused a Congolese bar owner of the murder.
Asked if he would call Knox with the court's decision even if it came in the middle of the night in the U.S., Dalla Vedova said: "I don't think she's sleeping much."
Television crews mobbed Sollecito as he made his way into the courthouse, where he huddled with his attorney before the hearing began.
"I'm here all day, also tonight," he said. His attorney, Giulia Bongiorno, said she hoped the court would annul the guilty verdicts, saying the ruling was "littered with errors and absolutely littered with contradictions and by an illogical motivation.