Analysis John Swinney was due to show his Budget hand by last night's final deadline for amending his spending plans. But the Finance Secretary declined.

The game of Budget poker goes on, with six more days of brinksmanship between the minister, Conservatives and Greens, on whom he depends for the necessary votes in next Wednesday's crunch vote.

Holyrood arithmetic means 47 SNP votes need another 18 to be sure of a majority. As Labour and LibDem have 62 combined and will oppose the Budget, every vote counts.

Independent MSP Margo MacDonald is already in the government camp, having won more money next year to recognise Edinburgh's capital status.

The 16 Tories want a deal they can portray as a victory for their priorities, and the two Greens are similarly in play. Mr Swinney needs Ms MacDonald, Conservatives and Greens if he is to be sure of victory.

In getting there, he may regret the political heat the SNP administration took last autumn over its U-turn on police recruitment. It had failed to fund its manifesto promise of 1000 extra police, opting for half that. Tory pressure has forced them to think again.

The money is now being found to recruit those 1000 more police within three years. The coming financial year requires £10m, which should pay for 300 more recruits by spring of next year. The following two years, Mr Swinney needs to find an extra £13m and £17m to retain these new officers and find 200 more.

There is cross-party support for more police, but the catch highlighted by Labour is a chief constables' warning they face nearly £100m in extra pension costs over the next three years. Mr Swinney says that is for police authorities to sort.

Tories also said their votes would require more for the small business rates relief scheme and for drugs rehabilitation. Business rates are the focus of continuing talks, with hints from both sides that agreement could be found without being written into the Budget, probably around assumptions of expected rates revenue.

On addiction recovery, a deal can be found by distributing differently what is already available.

Greens have been less clear. They wanted ministers to bulldoze plans for the M74 motorway extension through Glasgow. Although that is in doubt for contractual reasons, they now seem content with more modest achievements, starting with £4.3m for the new Climate Challenge Fund to bring on ideas for greener living. This already had £8m, whereas the Green manifesto had called for £25m.

Greens still want, as they put it, a rabbit out of Mr Swinney's hat, but won't publicly say what. Talks are likely to be around concessionary fares.

That leaves Mr Swinney's cuts, which he needs to equal his additional spending next year. Two of those are similar to defeated Labour proposals for cuts. Having ridiculed Labour for suggesting cuts to road maintenance, ministers now agree. Spending on e-health - NHS electronic patient records - has been postponed, releasing £5m.

And ministers can be confident of no public backlash if they tell the Scottish Prison Service to push £2m further with its "excellent track record of efficiency savings".

Set against a £30bn budget, these are tiny amounts. Opposition votes have not proved expensive, but they matter. If John Swinney cannot secure a majority, the SNP administration would face deep crisis.

By next Wednesday, expect him to do whatever it takes.