Dale Farm residents have won a last-gasp injunction preventing Basildon Council from clearing structures from the site pending a further court hearing on Friday.
Bailiffs arrived at the main gate of the Travellers' site earlier to start the eviction of up to 80 families living on an unauthorised plot in Essex, England.
The Travellers recently lost a decade-long legal fight over unauthorised development on 51 plots on half of the six-acre site.
Today, Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart granted the order at London's High Court on the basis that there was a realistic apprehension that the measures to be taken - while genuinely believed in by the council - "may go further" than the terms of the enforcement notices.
He said: "Having regard to the fact there is no fixed date for starting these - but they are imminent - I do not see that any serious injustice will be caused if the actual implementation of any measures will not take place before the end of this week."
There were cheers inside the site as residents and supporters were told the news.
Resident Mary Slattery said: "We are delighted. Every day is a bonus. We've got one last chance and we're not going to give up - this gives us so much hope."
Moves to evict the families from the UK's biggest illegal Travellers' site were delayed this morning as council officials held talks with residents.
However, officials called off the meeting when they established that the Travellers were seeking to delay the eviction until 22 November, when a planning appeal on a nearby site will be held.
Earlier resident Kathleen McCarthy said the Travellers feared it was inevitable that they would be forced to leave.
She added: "If they had any human decency this could be stopped, I plead and beg to stop this.''
