The conservative Forza Italia party and its coalition allies oppose a caretaker cabinet and want to try and muster a parliamentary majority, party sources told Adnkronos on Monday after last-ditch talks with Italy's president Sergio Mattarella.
Mattarella on Monday held final talks with the conservative coalition - including Forza Italia, the far-right League party and the rightwing Brothers of Italy party - as well as with the populist Five-Star Movement, the centre-left Democratic Party and other Italian parties.
Luigi Di Maio, leader of Five-Star - Italy's largest party since the inconclusive 4 March national vote - has demanded fresh elections be held in July if Mattarella fails to broker an agreement to form a viable government.
Mattarella is seeking to end two months of increasingly fractious political deadlock amid a web of apparently irreconcilable political demands after the March vote led to a hung parliament and several earlier rounds of talks collapsed.
If Monday's talks are unsuccessful, Mattarella is expected to propose a transitional government most likely led by a non-political figure. Such an executive would be tasked with approving the 2019 budget before new elections are held, probably in the autumn, according to analysts.
If Italian lawmakers spurn such a stopgap government, a revote looms in the coming months.