by Mark Drakeford will be questioned at the Covid inquiry on Wednesday on the decisions he took during the pandemic.
The first minister will give a whole day of evidence to the inquiry in Cardiff on his time leading the Welsh government’s response to coronavirus.
Earlier this week, his former health minister Vaughan Gething said he was embarrassed messages were deleted from his phone.
The inquiry’s Wales module ends on Thursday.
During Covid, Mr Drakeford was ultimately responsible for the country’s lockdown rules – his government is in charge of the NHS, education and councils.
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Led by Baroness Hallett, the inquiry has sat in a hotel in Cardiff for the last two weeks and has taken evidence from ministers, officials and those bereaved by the disease.
Mr Drakeford steps down as first minister next week following the result of the Welsh Labour leadership contest.
Earlier the inquiry heard evidence that ministers in Wales had not expected to have as much control over lockdown as they did.
The retention of WhatsApp messages has been a recurring theme throughout the inquiry, and Mr Gething said on Monday it was a “matter of real embarrassment” that messages were deleted from his phone.
Mr Gething said he handed in his Senedd mobile phone in 2022 for maintenance, which was when the messages were wiped.
Education Minister Jeremy Miles also told the inquiry his practice was to delete messages from his phone because of personal security.
Some of Health Minister Eluned Morgan’s messages had also been deleted, but she said it was “only a couple”.
Mr Gething said an earlier lockdown could have saved more lives, and he regretted not keeping schools open for longer.
Both he and Mr Miles are competing in the Welsh Labour leadership race.
Last week it was disclosed Mark Drakeford had believed locking down small areas during the autumn of 2020 turned out to be a “failed experiment”.
It is the second time Mr Drakeford has appeared at the inquiry.
Last year, at an inquiry hearing in London, he defended the diversion of resources from preparing for a pandemic to a potential no deal Brexit.
Mr Drakeford has been criticised for not commissioning a Wales-focused inquiry, which supporters said was needed to fully examine how the Welsh government responded to the pandemic.
The first minister has instead co-operated with the UK-inquiry, which he has argued will better understand how decisions were taken across the four nations.
Follow live coverage of the Covid inquiry on the BBC News website and app.
