Though Olmert is unpopular in opinion polls and has lost allies from his fractious coalition government, he has vowed to stay in office and repair any faults found by the inquiry.

The government-appointed Winograd commission's interim findings delivered last April were highly critical of Olmert, his government and senior military commanders, spurring calls for the prime minister to resign.

The commission cannot recommend that Olmert or others should resign, but the prime minister was widely expected to face harsh words from the five panel members.

The defense minister at the time of the war, Amir Peretz, and armed forces chief Dan Halutz resigned last year.

The commission, set up to investigate deficiencies in the conduct of the war, will give Olmert a copy of the report at 5 p.m. (1500 GMT). An unclassified version will be released to the public after a news conference about an hour later.

The war was triggered when Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid in July 2006. Nearly 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed in 34 days of fighting.

In its interim findings, the commission accused Olmert of lacking "judgment, responsibility and prudence" in his decision to go to war against Hezbollah.

Olmert, who is pursuing new U.S.-sponsored peace talks with the Palestinians, says he has already acted to implement the panel's early recommendations.

Unlike the interim report, the final findings will focus on the last days of the war when Olmert ordered a costly ground assault even as a U.N.-brokered truce was in the works.

Olmert has no obvious challenger and has referred to himself as politically indestructible. -Reuters