Backup issues prior to upgrade

I am trying to upgrade from 18.14 to 19.00 in order to get to 19.02.  During the backup process, I was warned by the console to snapshot the MA and the collectors, which I have done, and to take a backup.

I triggered a one time backup yesterday at approximately 3:30pm. I waited until 5, with no indication as to whether or not the backup was running or progressing at all.  Support said it might take hours so I left it overnight, only to come in this morning to no indication the backup had completed, or failed.  No save file dialog, no error message, nothing.

In emails back and forth this morning, I was asked to shorten the audit log retention (delete all older than 3 months), and then Optimize the DB (both via the GUI). before running option 17 in the console via SSH.

There is no indication of progress whatsoever after 2 hours regarding the deletion of the audit logs older than 3 months. 

I am at a standstill until I know these items have completed.  Has this been an issue for anyone else?