The deal involves Telstra being paid $13.8 billion for the use of its infrastructure to roll out the national fibre network. Shareholders must vote to approve the deal early next year.

The biggest investor in Telstra, the Future Fund, said yesterday it would not guarantee its support for the deal between Telstra and NBN Co until it saw more details.

The vote to structurally separate Telstra was scheduled for Wednesday night, but the Coalition succeeded in shutting the Senate down at 7.20pm and yesterday, used procedural tactics to further the delay until Monday.

Parliament was due to rise for the year last night. The delay forced MPs and senators to sit on Monday, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The opposition used the delay to pressure Senator Xenophon to change his mind, but both he and Senator Fielding said last night they would not move.