🚀 go-pugleaf

Here's my best shot, given your "puzzle" and my not-so-extensive knowledge of FrameMaker. I've tried the following method with my FM6 and it works. 

1. Creating hidden figure numbers under sub-heading1. 
Let's say you have a subheading1 that is numbered A.B. Within this subheading, create a cross-reference to this subheading with the tag <$paranumonly>. Now, create a style (e.g. HiddenStyle) that will both hide this cross-reference (white text, small font, etc) and number it. This will allow you to have a list like this: 
1. A.B 
2. A.B 
� etc 
create as many items as there are figures. 

2. Labelling figures 
In the section containing all figures, label the figures with the appropriate cross-reference to the paragraphs "HiddenStyle": the tags <$paratext>-<$paranumonly> should do the trick. This will produce figure labels like: A.B-1, A.B-2, etc.  Now, create and apply a style (e.g. FigureNumber) to the figures. 

3. Cross-referencing figures in subheading1 
Go back to the text in subheading1, and cross-reference the figure labels (c-r to paragraphs "FigureNumber") with <$paratext>. Here's the penalty for this method: if your figures are labels contain both a figure number and text, this text will have to be included in this cross-reference. 

This method is perhaps a bit awkward, but it works! 
Hope this helps.