The two leaders allocated just 30 minutes to a working lunch after their face-to-face meeting in Helsinki's presidential palace - which overran - meaning that a meal that has taken weeks to plan had to be delivered to the second.

Finland has put on a lavish reception for the politicians and the media alike; take a look at the hectic atmosphere, as Helsinki's best chefs scrambled to prepare the menu, whose contents are yet to be revealed.

Финские повара готовят ланч для Путина и Трампа pic.twitter.com/06vdRaiMYx — Дмитрий Смирнов (@dimsmirnov175) 16 July 2018

In the end, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump sat opposite each other at a white-clothed table in the gilded, parquet-floored Hall of Mirrors at a somewhat late lunchtime of 4pm but in a reportedly amiable mood, after the what the US president described as a "good start" to the summit.

READ MORE: One-on-one meeting with Putin a ‘good start,’ Trump says after over 2 hours of tete-a-tete talks

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