at the last minute
(idiomatic) Very close to a deadline or potential crucial event.
At the last minute, he refused to approve the plan.
At the last minute, the hero regained consciousness and rolled out of the path of the tank.
Synonym: at the last moment
Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown. Ross Perot
Avoiding Procrastination: Doing things at the last minute is much more expensive than just before the last minute. Deadlines are really important: establish them yourself! Randy Pausch
We're under some gross misconception that we're a good species, going somewhere important, and that at the last minute we'll correct our errors and God will smile on us. It's delusion. Farley Mowat
I've worked with a lot of living composers recently. It drives me nuts, though, that they like to change things at the last minute. For example, two years ago I played a piece that had been completed only the day before, in front of thousands of people in a huge stadium in Taejon, South Korea. Sarah Chang
Even at the last minute we were still debating what was gonna be released as the first single. Meg White
Basically, Pizza Hut just backed out on the ad agency at the last minute. They got fired and we got fired. It was a simple as that. We do stuff like that on and off. Gene Ween