Michael Ajaka, from real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, said the supermarket was passed in last Tuesday after bidding failed to reach the reserve price of $2.2 million.

Mr Ajaka said the despite the disappointing result, discussions with potential buyers were ongoing.

“There was strong bidding at the auction on Tuesday, up around $1.8 million,” he said.

“We’re working with various parties at the moment, so we can’t go into too much detail about figures and so on.

“Discussions are ongoing though, which is a good sign.”

The store’s owner, Con Castrissios, said he is waiting to hear what the next step in the process will be, but says he won’t be throwing in the towel.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen next,” Mr Castrissios said.

“We’ll just have to wait to hear from the agent, but I won’t be giving up.”