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Both sides in Brexit talks say progress is being made but without any breakthrough on the crucial issue of the Irish border.
Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said he was "stubbornly optimistic" about getting a deal after talks in Brussels.
Unresolved issues include intellectual property, data protection and the role of the European Court of Justice.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier said he needed detail from the UK on its plan to avoid a hard border in Ireland.
He told journalists that remaining "bones of contention" between the two sides were being steadily eliminated with particular progress on issues of security, judicial and defence co-operation after "long" talks on Friday.
The UK is due to leave the EU on 29 March 2019.
Both sides are hoping to agree a divorce deal and a statement on future trading relations before the summit at a summit of EU leaders on 17 October. although Mr Raab stated that deadline could be missed slightly.
He told reporters: "We're committed to resolving the deal by (the October council) and ultimately on my side I am stubbornly optimistic that a deal is within our reach."
Mr Barnier said there was a "measure of flexibility" and if the process slipped by a "few days or weeks" it would still be possible for the UK to leave the EU with a deal, if approved by the UK and EU Parliaments, on schedule.
The EU negotiator said the "building blocks" of an agreement were falling into place.
He repeated his offer of an "unprecedented" future partnership with the UK but insisted this depended on an "orderly" withdrawal and settling key outstanding issues.
On the issue of the Irish border, he said the issue had come down to "minutiae" and he needed detail of how the UK's proposed controls to manage cross-border trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Irelandthe so-called backstop solutionwould work in practice.
"This backstop is critical," he said. "It is essential to concluding the negotiations. Without a backstop, there will be no agreement."
Mr Raab said he had used Friday's talks to explain in more detail the UK's proposal for its future relationship with the EU, the so-called Chequers plan agreed by Theresa May at her country residence in July.
The PM's blueprint, which would see the UK follow EU rules on trade in goods is unpopular with many Tory MPs, with leading Brexiteers like Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson calling for it to be ditched.
Mr Johnson, who quit the cabinet in July in protest over the PM's proposals, hammered out at her country residence Chequers, said he agreed with Mrs May's former aide Nick Timothy, who urged her to ditch the plan.
Mr Timothy wrote on Thursday that she would have to make further concessions to get EU backing for it and this would be unacceptable.
And Stuart Jackson, the former Tory MP who until recently was an aide to Dominic Raab's predecessor David Davis, said the Chequers plan "has not really got any friends" on either side.
"For the EU, it's outside their core principles and undermines the integrity of the single market," he told BBC Radio 4's Today. "In the UK, people believe it is Brexit in name only."
Mr Raab vowed to increase the frequency of talks with Mr Barnier when he took over the job in July, following the resignation of David Davis.
The meeting comes after the most senior member of Theresa May's cabinet, David Lidington, called for the EU to back the prime minister's Brexit plan or risk a no deal scenario.
On Thursday evening, Mr Raab met with the European Parliament's Brexit representative, Guy Verhofstadt.
The former Belgian prime minister called the meeting "productive", tweeting that he wanted a "close future association" with the UK after Brexit that "respects the EU's core principles".