Ex President Jammeh requested a four-extension until 4pm local time to cede, government sources said, according to the Reuters news agency.
It was not clear what he planned to do, though diplomats said his departure looked increasingly possible.
The leaders of Guinea and Mauritania headed for The Gambia on Friday for talks with Jammeh.
West African troops entered the country to bolster new President Adama Barrow – who was sworn-in on Thursday – but military operations were suspended a few hours later in favour of a final diplomatic push to convince Jammeh, who has stubbornly refused to quit, to exit peacefully.
In his first media interview with Al Jazeera, Barrow urges Jammeh to leave the country and hopes that the 15 ECOWAS countries can find him a safe haven.
“We cannot allow Yahya Jammeh to remain in the Gambia, it will make our job difficult. That’s why all our negotiations is he leave Gambia, he can later come back. But as of now the political climate doesn’t allow that.”
“I advise him in good faith to give peace a chance. It is about democracy.”
Gambia’s only land border is with Senegal and the regional coalition, which ECOWAS says involves 7,000 troops, has entered from the southeast, southwest and north.
Jammeh started negotiations with ECOWAS on Thursday and agreed to step down. He demanded, however, an amnesty for any crimes that he may have committed during his 22 years in power and that he be permitted to stay in The Gambia, at his home village of Kanilai.
Those demands are not acceptable to ECOWAS, said Marcel Alain de Souza, the head ECOWAS. Jammeh’s continued presence in The Gambia would “create disturbances to public order and terrorist movements”,” he said.
Support for the long-ruling leader has been crumbling.
The Gambia’s army chief Ousman Badjie joined in dancing on the streets with supporters of internationally backed President Adama Barrow on Thursday evening.
The army chief danced with ordinary citizens celebrating in the streets on Thursday seven weeks after contested polls.
“Diplomacy is a long road – it always has been and always will be – so every opportunity to find a resolution is the best means possible for the region,” Robin Sanders, a former US ambassador to ECOWAS said
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