Knowing what was at stake, the Thistle players showed some urgency in the early stages and after only six minutes Jamie Mitchell and Stephen McConalogue exchanged passes to play in Juan Ramon Escalas but his shot was blocked for a corner.
St Mirren's first chance came courtesy of Thistle's goalkeeper Arthur who mis-kicked a pass back after 13 minutes and looked on anxiously as the ball went just past his post.
St Mirren did come more into the game and good link-up play between Simon Lappin and Brian McGinty led to a Murray shot which was goalbound before it was blocked and turned away for a corner.
On 22 minutes, McGinty saw his six-yard header go just the wrong side of the bar and on 39 minutes Allan Russell out-ran three Thistle defenders but his shot did not trouble Arthur.
As half time approached, St Mirren continued to push and on 42 minutes a speculative shot by Alan Reid forced Arthur to make another good save.
Thistle forced a series of corners after 54 minutes but Darren Brady's 16-yard shot was high over the bar and he really should have done better.
St Mirren did not concede any ground and on 58 minutes Russell had a 14-yard shot that troubled the fans in the stand more than it did Arthur in the Thistle goal.
Thistle made changes on the hour mark and one of the substitutes, Armand One, crossed over to the back post but Andy Ross just failed to connect with what would have been a certain goal.
As the game drew to its conclusion, neither side were able to break the deadlock and with the final whistle Thistle's chances of remaining in the division were further diminished.