Asymptotic inference for estimators of $(\alpha_n, \beta_n)$ in the spatial autoregressive model $Z_{ij}(n) = \alpha_n Z_{i-1, j}(n) + \beta_n Z_{i, j-1}(n) - \alpha_n \beta_n Z_{i-1, j-1}(n) + \varepsilon_{ij}$ is obtained when $\alpha_n$ and $\beta_n$ are near unit roots. When $\alpha_n$ and $\beta_n$ are reparameterized by $\alpha_n = e^{c/n}$ and $\beta_n = e^{d/n}$, it is shown that if the "one-step Gauss-Newton estimator" of $\lambda_1 \alpha_n + \lambda_2 \beta_n$ is properly normalized and embedded in the function space $D([0, 1]^2)$, the limiting distribution is a Gaussian process. The key idea in the proof relies on a maximal inequality for a two-parameter martingale which may be of independent interest. A simulation study illustrates the speed of convergence and goodness-of-fit of these
estimators for various sample sizes.