The UK's Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has said he will call a snap Assembly election but has not set a date.
It had been widely anticipated that Mr Heaton-Harris would announce the date for an election on Friday, after a deadline to restore devolved government at Stormont passed at midnight.
Instead, he said he would give more information next week and would meet with the Stormont parties.
He said he was faced with “limited options”.
Speaking in Belfast on Friday, he said: “I am deeply disappointed we are where are now.
“This is a really serious situation. As of a minute past midnight last night, there are no longer ministers in office in the Northern Ireland Executive.
“I will take limited but necessary steps to ensure public services do continue and to protect the public finances.
“But there is a limit to what the secretary of state can do in these circumstances.”
With no ministerial executive in place, the UK government assumes a legal responsibility to call another election.
Stormont ministers, who have been operating in shadow form since the Assembly collapsed earlier this year, also ceased to hold office at midnight.
Responsibility for running devolved departments will now pass to senior civil servants, although their powers are limited.
During a visit to Thurrock, in Essex, earlier on Friday, UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told reporters: “We do need to get the institutions in Northern Ireland back up and running and the sooner we can do that, the better.
“That requires our government to get people around the negotiating table and to resolve the issues on the protocol.
“I think they can be resolved. I think there are amendments that can be made to the protocol without ripping it up.
“But the government needs to get people around the table and get that agreement because at the moment we’ve got a very difficult situation for people in Northern Ireland who are suffering as a result of the government’s failure to convene this.”
