This report will be a crucial tool for political parties, all desperate to prosecute a public relations case against the big supermarket chains – Woolworths and Coles – that have been profiteering at the expense of cash-strapped consumers.

Canberra really needs the supermarket report card from the ACCC to demonstrate that the two giants of the sector are behaving in an anticompetitive manner.

Labor, the Coalition and the Greens need their “I told you so moment”. And that prospect becomes more of a reality if the ACCC’s investigation uncovers some real stinkers.

Evidence of price-gouging won’t cut it because it’s not illegal, so even if the ACCC manages to establish prices are higher than they need to be, it would be legally irrelevant.

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But the supermarket operators will be worried about land-banking (buying and holding sites for years). It’s their most vulnerable issue and likely to be construed as anticompetitive behaviour because it may prohibit smaller supermarkets from setting up shop.

But Woolworths CEO Amanda Bardwell and Coles CEO Leah Weckert know there’s no winning against the tide of discontent that has the supermarkets scrambling. If the ACCC finds any behavioural shortcomings, it will only serve to cement the public’s view that the supermarkets are greedy, with their moral compass pointed towards shareholders, not customers.

And those findings will be amplified by the political classes who are looking to curry favour with their constituency in the lead-up to the election.

If the ACCC finds no evidence of any meaningful behavioural or competition issues, the public will continue to blame supermarkets for the cost-of-living pressures, and Canberra will become invisible on the issue.

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For supermarkets, it’s a lose-lose scenario. Meanwhile, consumers will be hoping the politicians can dial down the rhetoric and focus on real solutions.

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