Tan sent Mackay an email last Monday telling him to resign or be sacked.
But with the 41-year-old Scot refusing to walk away voluntarily, Tan is now prepared for a possible reconciliation.
When asked if the ultimatum had been withdrawn, Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman said: “For the time being, yes. The crisis for the time being is over.”
He added that Mackay was is “in charge for the foreseeable future and will be until something else happens”.
Tan flew from Malaysia to London on Friday with the intention of dismissing Mackay, but he agreed to a final meeting with Dalman to discuss the situation.
That meeting went on into the early hours of Saturday.
Tan was still undecided about Mackay’s future following the 3-1 Premier League defeat at Liverpool, during which the Cardiff fans expressed support for Mackay and disapproval of Tan.
The 61-year-old businessman has now chosen to delay any judgment until further negotiations have taken place.
“My definition of diplomacy is to create space for dialogue,” said Dalman.
“I have spoken to Vincent Tan and he has agreed I can go into bat to try to bring a solution to this situation.
“The important thing is that we try to find a way through this predicament.”
Mackay guided Cardiff to promotion last season and the Welsh club currently sit 15th in the table, four points above the relegation zone.
But Tan has been critical of results and the team’s style of play, as well as hitting out at Mackay for his signings.
Dalman thinks the two can patch up their differences.
“There is goodwill on Vincent’s side,” he said. “I’ve not had a chance to talk to Malky just yet, but I will obviously do that as well.
“We need to have further dialogue to see if we can get through this together for the good of the club, which is the most important thing.
“We managed to create space for everyone to work together back in October and we have to see if we can do that again in order to move forward.
“At least we have a platform for dialogue, which gives us an opportunity to try to work our way through this.
“If we wish to work towards a reconciliation, Vincent Tan has offered us that opportunity to move towards that.
“If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But at least I, as a responsible person and chairman of this football club, have tried my best.”
Dalman insisted he was not taking sides, adding he was working for the “good of the club”.
He added: “Let’s see if we can fix it.
“We can’t keep having the club under a cloud, so this is it. We managed to get two or three months leeway last time and we need to create something similar again.
“I’m not putting a time scale upon this, but we have to try.
“If we want to find a way forward, we now have a platform, a base, from which to work. This is a crucial time in the Premier League. Every point counts and we are better off going for stability.
“So if we want to give the club the best chance of being in the Premier League next season, the best way is to fix the problem and seek stability.
“In order to do that, it’s best we have an attempt at dialogue.”
Dalman revealed that Tan would be in London for a while so any dialogue would be face to face.
When asked if he had a replacement for Mackay lined up, Dalman replied: “I can tell you categorically that I, as chairman, have not initiated any dialogue with anybody else.
“Can we go out and get another manager? Of course we can. But I’ve read and heard so much nonsense about us speaking to four different candidates and that sort of thing. It’s simply not true.
“What I do have is Vincent’s word that if we don’t succeed with our dialogue with Malky, I and the board will be handed the responsibility of going out and getting the manager we think is best to take the club forward.”
He also issued a message to Cardiff supporters, urging them not to protest against Tan at Thursday’s home game with Southampton.
Written by Steve Milne – have your say below 🙂