BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI AND JAY WEAVER

 The prospects for a reunion between Elian Gonzalez and his father, which seemed imminent just a day before, dimmed Thursday as Attorney General Janet Reno returned to Washington with the boy still firmly in the custody of his Miami relatives and hundreds of supporters massed outside the relatives' Little Havana house.

 Lazaro Gonzalez, Elian's great-uncle, ignored a 2 p.m. government deadline to turn over Elian, but the federal government took no action and there were no indications that the government would move to remove the boy from his great-uncle's home today.

 But Gonzalez's efforts did suffer a major blow when a Miami-Dade family court judge dismissed his effort to claim custody of Elian -- a case that had been the linchpin of the Miami relatives' legal and political strategy to keep the boy in the United States.

 Supporters of Elian remaining in the United States have persistently demanded that the federal government allow a full hearing in family court on where Elian should live. But Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey, in a 22-page decision, ruled that the Miami relatives have no case because the boy's case is fundamentally an immigration question. Bailey also said Lazaro Gonzalez ``is too remotely related to the child'' to seek custody.

 She said she would entertain no appeal, and lifted a temporary order barring Elian's removal from the county.

 Later in the day, a federal appeals court judge granted the family a respite, temporarily ordering that Elian not be taken out of the United States. However, the order was granted only to allow a three-judge panel enough time to consider the family's request for a longer stay.

 The stay was widely misinterpreted by news media and the Miami relatives' supporters as requiring that Elian remain in Miami. In fact, the order does not prevent Reno from returning Elian to the custody of his father, who is in Washington, D.C., awaiting a promised reunification.

 The order by U.S. Circuit Judge James L. Edmondson makes no mention of Miami: ``Plaintiff Elian Gonzalez is enjoined from leaving the United States; any and all persons acting for, on behalf of or in concert with plaintiff Elian Gonzalez are enjoined from aiding or assisting the removal of plaintiff from the United States, and all officers and agents of the United States . . . are enjoined to take such lawful action and reasonable precautions and actions as are necessary to prevent the removal of plaintiff from the United States.''

 HEARING REQUEST

 Edmondson made clear he was concerned only with the possibility that Elian might leave the country and was not passing judgment on the likelihood that the family would prevail in a pending federal court appeal. The family has asked the appeals court in Atlanta to order the government to grant Elian an asylum hearing.

 Federal officials said Friday's appellate order would delay enforcement of Reno's decision by three or four days. The government must respond by 9:30 a.m. today to the family's request for a longer stay. If granted, the order would keep Elian in the country until the appellate court rules in the appeal.

 Throughout the day Thursday, the boy's relatives, their attorneys and supporters issued a near-constant stream of defiant messages, some of them mocking Reno and daring her to take action.

 Though many in Miami seemed to anticipate that government agents would sweep in to whisk Elian out of the home, Reno said Thursday it was never her intention to do so. She said she would explore all peaceful options before resorting to force.

 President Clinton, weighing in publicly on the case for the first time in recent weeks, backed Reno's approach. ``This case is about the rule of law,'' Clinton said in Washington. ``It is our responsibility to uphold the law.''

 BLUNT REACTION

 Gregory Craig, the attorney for Elian's father, issued his own blunt assessment of the Miami relatives' defiance.

 ``Today, Lazaro Gonzalez defied the nation's chief law enforcement officers and publicly and belligerently refused to turn Elian over to his father,'' he said. ``Today, Lazaro broke the law.''

 Roger Bernstein, an attorney for Gonzalez, defended his client's position, saying he did not want to assist in returning Elian to the Communist regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro.

 ``Lazaro is not breaking the law. Lazaro has stated consistently that he will not disobey the law, that he will stand back and allow the government to do their job, but he will not participate in the harming of the child and betraying his trust,'' Bernstein said.

 In Havana, National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon praised Reno's performance in the impasse, describing her as ``generous and flexible, because she has moved heaven and earth to convince the clan [the Miami Gonzalezes] to return the boy to his father in the best possible manner.

 ``Nevertheless, they've been saying yes and doing nothing. It's a mockery,'' he added.

 A day after she flew to Miami hoping to persuade the Miami relatives to turn over Elian to his father, Reno returned empty-handed to Washington, still pledging to carry out her order, but not specifying how.

 ORDER CHALLENGED

 After a fruitless two-hour meeting Wednesday night with the Gonzalez family at the home of Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, Barry University's president, Reno issued a legally binding order to the relatives instructing them to turn over Elian at Opa-locka Airport. But Lazaro Gonzalez swiftly announced he would not obey the order, challenging Reno to send federal agents to his house.

 ``They will have to take this boy by force,'' he vowed.

 As the 2 p.m. deadline came and went, Reno promised that no agents would go to the house immediately. She apparently continued to hold out hope for a negotiated agreement, citing a proposal for a face-to-face meeting between Elian's great-uncle and father that Lazaro Gonzalez rejected. She suggested the meeting could take place at a private retreat.

 ``If they can work things out amongst themselves, the government would step aside,'' Reno said. ``But if at the end of the day they could not reach agreement, the relatives would abide by the rule of law. We stand by this offer, and Juan Miguel Gonzalez has agreed to participate. Unfortunately, Lazaro Gonzalez and his family have refused to participate.''

 Reno said the government would now act in a ``reasonable, measured way,'' but she would not discuss what options she is considering.

 `LAST RESORT'

 But high-level federal law enforcement officials have put together a plan for forcibly removing Elian from his relatives' home. Under the plan, a large number of agents would secure a perimeter around the house while a casually dressed group of mostly female officers would pick up Elian. The officials insist, however, that the plan remains a ``last resort'' to be used if other peaceful options fail.

 Gonzalez's vehemence, combined with defiant words by his attorneys, seemed to spur demonstrators outside his house to a high level of emotion. They began assembling early in the day, and their numbers grew throughout the day as the 2 p.m. deadline approached.

 To shouts of ``War! War!'' some vowed to die to prevent Elian from being removed from the house. Police erected barricades to keep the demonstrators away from the entrance to the house, where a gaggle of politicians and celebrities such as singer Gloria Estefan and actor Andy Garcia came to express support.

 The mood of those in the crowd lightened noticeably when they learned that Reno had promised not to take action Thursday to take the boy away from his Miami family. As the day wore on, the crowd thinned, but more than 500 people were still outside the house at 9 p.m.

 Herald staff writers Ajowa Nzinga Ifateyo, David Kidwell, Marika Lynch, Sandra Marquez Garcia, Sara Olkon and Eunice Ponce, Herald writers Mireidy Fernandez and Daniel Grech, Herald translator Renato Perez, and Herald wire services contributed to this report.