In the Large Helical Device, stable discharges lasting longer than one minute have been obtained using the complete heating scheme, includingECH. The plasma is sustained with NBI or ICRF of 0.5-1 MW. The centralplasma temperature is higher than 1.5 keV with a density of (1-2) × 1019m-3maintained until the end of the pulse. Full installation of the carbondivertor has contributed to this achievement. This provides a sufficientbasis for physics and technology studies for the next campaign. Long pulse operation opens new possibilities in diagnostics and inphysics studies. Higher accuracy and reliability are obtained with adiagnostics parameter scan, longer integration of signals ortwo dimensional measurement. The mechanism of a slow oscillationcalled `breathing' is discussed. Hydrogen recycling analysis has beencarried out and preliminary results have been obtained. On the basis of theseresults, the future programme is divided into two categories:(i) physics and technology experiments utilizing long pulsedischarges lasting up to 5 minutes, and (ii) extension of the pulse lengthup to one hour.