MacRumors.com

MacGuardians.de (German) claims that Panther 7B85 has gone Gold Master and is already in duplication. An anonymous MacRumors report, today, also claimed that build 7B85 would be Gold Master.

While neither source has had much of a rumor history, speculation about Final Candidate status on the Panther Builds has grown since internal build 7B80 was stripped of its Pre Release designation.

Reports of Build 7B85 showed up on Monday as an Internal Release at Apple. No details on the build were available, but AppleInsider since noted some very minor tweaks in the 7B85 build.

Tentative target dates have been rumored to be October 24th, 25th or even in early November. More details as they come in...

Update: Appleinsider confirms that Panther has been declared Gold Master.

Update 2: An unconfirmed Page 2 report may provide some clarification on build numbers. (85 vs 86)