About a dozen cars have been moved from the blocked streets of central Wellington - but as soon as they rolled out, more protesters rolled in.
And as the protest grows, political opportunists are seizing the moment. ACT leader David Seymour met with the protesters on Wednesday, saying it's time for dialogue - a move Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called irresponsible.
Parliament, the people's place, has now become the protester's place. They have settled in.
"We've got Wi-Fi," one protester told Newshub.
Despite police threats they would tow cars, the only car towed from the vicinity of Parliament over the last few days was one of their own - with a punctured tyre.
About a dozen cars were moved voluntarily but the cops have been crippled by a lack of tow trucks, now securing some from up the country.
"We had assistance from operators across New Zealand," said Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers, head of the police operation overseeing the protest activity at Parliament grounds.
It's day nine and the protesters are still arriving.
"It's been really orderly and we haven't seen any significant incidents or arrests in the last 24 hours," said Chambers.
Seymour reckons since the protest is changing, so must the response.
"To glue this country back together when this is all over," he said at a press conference on Wednesday. "That's why it is time for dialogue."
So he met a bunch of them on Wednesday morning during a two-hour confessional of sorts at the Backbencher pub across the road from Parliament.
"I'm not sure he listened to every word we said but it felt good to get it off our chest," a protester could be heard saying in a social media video uploaded by Chantelle Baker, a prominent voice in the anti-vaccine mandate group.
The meeting was facilitated by Backbencher Pub owner Alistair Boyce - a Wellington institution forced to close because of the blocked streets.
He contacted a number of politicians because everything had "turned to chaos again" when Speaker Trevor Mallard had turned the speakers on at Parliament.
"David was one of the people I contacted and said 'look you've really got to resolve this you've really gotta talk to people.. this is a total impasse and its getting worse'," he told Newshub.
Seymour then flew down from Auckland and had a two hour meeting with what he called "intermediaries" connected to the leadership. Other protestors also joined the meeting at times.
"It did take a lot of convincing, you know I was almost pleading with him but he came through," Boyce said.
The Prime Minister admonished Seymour for legitimising the protest.
"To meet with those who are obstructing Wellingtonians from going about their everyday lives, bullying and harassing people who are trying to go to school or work, I do think meeting with them was irresponsible," she told reporters.
Seymour laid down an ultimatum: move the cars, get rid of the ugly bits of the protests, and he'll come out to the forecourt for a yarn.
The protesters see right through it.
"Blackmail, isn't it?" one told Newshub. "I'll come out if you move your car? What a load of shit."
Another protester said: "He needed to step up a lot sooner than he has."
Seymour was even described as "a slimy politician".
The ACT leader is adamant the extremists are no longer there and that's why he's open to dialogue.
Perhaps a lot of the protesters are peaceful but some don't think it'll end peacefully.
"They're going to have to use force to get rid of everybody by the look of it," a protester said.
And some don't want it to.
"This doesn't end with the mandates - we're here for a hanging," a protester could be heard saying.
Counterspin's Kelvyn Alp called on the armed forces to stage a military coup.
"People here would be happy for you to take over the Government," he said in a social media video.
Still, there's a political leader willing to negotiate.
"People who are very eager to push that sort of rhetoric and those sorts of people out," Seymour said.
The Prime Minister is concerned foreign money may be funding the occupation.
"I certainly couldn't rule out a connection with groups offshore," she said.
It means the tents and the food and the cars may just keep coming.
The protest is the only show in town at Parliament. Everyone wants to give their two cents and they've all been on the same page until now.
Perhaps one of Seymour's own voters described the desperation best. One of those protesters - the one that called him a "slimy politician" - told Newshub Seymour was simply doing it because his support halved in the latest Newshub-Reid Research poll, he's realised his voters are the ones on the front lawn, and he's desperately trying to get them back.
"You've seen his polls, they halved, and he's in damage control," the protester told Newshub. "He's thinking, 'oh shit, I fucked up, I need to try get these guys back', and he's just a slimy politician."
He also said he'd never vote for ACT again.
The National Party is trying to muscle in too. On Thursday, they'll lodge a formal no-confidence vote in House Speaker Trevor Mallard - a political stunt that will fail because they don't have a majority.
Politicians are increasingly eyeing up a slice of the political protest pie.
