The Health Department secretary later endured a period of hostile questioning from Arthur Moses,QC,hired by security company Unified,who ended by saying:"Do you accept sitting here today there were deficiencies in the hotel quarantine program because your department did not discharge the functions that it had been provided for?"

Ms Peake denied that was the case.

Ms Mikakos will give evidence on Thursday,followed by a Friday afternoon appearance by Premier Daniel Andrews.

Earlier on Wednesday Ms Neville and Mr Pakula became the latest in a string of witnesses before the inquiry to give evidence that they did not know who had made key decisions,including the use of security guards or the Australian Defence Force in the program.

Ms Neville said she was told within hours of national cabinet deciding on March 27 to detain all returning overseas travellers in hotels that private security guards were to be hired to guard the Melbourne quarantine hotels.

"I believe that private security was raised by Commissioner Crisp[Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp]. I'm pretty confident the ADF issues were raised by Mr Ashton[former police commissioner Graham Ashton],"Ms Neville said. A note made by Mr Ashton in the meeting refers to"ADF"as well as"security guards,police back up".

Mr Crisp does not remember what was spoken about at that meeting,but told the inquiry last week he did not think it was him who first mentioned private security.

Ms Neville said she took Mr Crisp's mention of private security to mean that the decision had been made at some point before the meeting"that private security was the front line". However,"I do not know who made the decision to engage private security contractors,"the minister's witness statement reads.

She recalls in that crucial meeting that neither she,Mr Crisp,nor Mr Ashton expressed any concern about the arrangement,saying in her statement that it was a standard model for guarding"Parliament House,hospitals and police headquarters ...[and] major events such as the Australian Open".

Ms Neville also resisted the suggestion that the decision to hire the guards was responsible for what later went wrong. About 99 per cent of the coronavirus cases in Melbourne's devastating second wave emerged,via security guards,from the botched hotel quarantine system.

The Police Minister said she had not been aware in advance of the state government’s decision on June 24 to request 850 ADF personnel for the quarantine program. She only heard about the request,which was rescinded the following day amid widespread confusion,when checking the news headlines in the early hours of the morning.

She said finding out about an expanded ADF role from the media left her"pretty cranky".

Mr Pakula,whose department signed the contracts with the private security contractors,told the inquiry that his knowledge of the operational activities of his officials on the quarantine program was very limited,and he did not know who had decided to hire the private guards.

While Mr Pakula's department was initially in charge of the hotel quarantine program,control quickly shifted to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Mr Pakula said his department secretary,Simon Phemister,"was a bit put out"by the change but there was no other reason to be concerned.

"To this day I'm really not quite sure,but I would surmise there was some discussion amongst agency heads and it led to a change in the decision,but I don’t know why that decision was made,"Mr Pakula said.

He also told Wednesday’s hearing that he only became aware of concerns within his department with the hotel quarantine program after the inquiry was established.

Both Ms Neville and Mr Pakula said in their evidence that Ms Mikakos’ Department of Health and Human Services had operational control of the quarantine hotels where Victoria’s second wave of coronavirus infection,which has killed more than 700 people,originated.

The inquiry is due to report by November 23.