From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthe last minutethe last minuteLATEthe last possible time, just before it is too lateat the last minute He cancelled his trip to England at the last minute.until the last minute If you leave your essay until the last minute, you’ll almost certainly panic. → last-minute → minute
Examples from the Corpus
until the last minute• Negotiations continued, until the last minute, but the Town team were adamant and the organisers ruled that Jodi was ineligible.• She stood by the window waiting for Elvira until the last minute.• Aurangzeb's musketeers held their fire until the last minute, then discharged their entire artillery.• And if you leave it until the last minute, so what?• He led her on right until the last minute.• In all cases, you would be wise to avoid waiting until the last minute.• By waiting until the last minute, donors can sometimes escape attention in the hectic time before an election.• I could see myself just planning on going away for a weekend sometime and not planning on where until the last minute. 