ER Associate Post Final Round Interview Confusion

Ok so here's the deal- I applied in early August for an associate position at a boutique firm that is headquartered in New York but the role is in a satellite office. The analyst who i would work under reached out to me to set up a initial phone interview with the current associate under him. After that I had an in-person interview with the analyst a week later which was very casual- mostly behavioral. During that interview he told me he wanted me to go to New York to meet with some people over there which didn't happen until this week due to people being on summer vacation. I met a few managing directors and director of research in the New York Office.

I sent a thank you email to the original analyst the next day and he responded after an hour saying he got great feedback and that he would be in touch in 1 week for next steps.

What does next steps mean? To me there are three scenarios: 1) offer; 2) no offer; 3) further evaluation ie take home project?

To me it would be weird for #3 to happen this late in the process (feel like it would be in the beginning). If I didn't get it wouldn't he not throw the "great feedback" line and just let me know right away instead of delaying it?

Thoughts?