A testy exchange between a senior Coles executive and the ACCC’s deputy chair has been the highlight of the final day of the consumer watchdog’s supermarket inquiry hearings so far.

Earlier on Friday, ACCC counsel assisting Naomi Sharp, SC, was frustrated in her attempt to clarify a crucial detail with Coles’ chief commercial officer Anna Croft regarding the supermarket’s order volumes with fresh produce suppliers.

Croft said the supermarket was heavily focused on delivering on its “commitments” to buy from suppliers.

“When you say commitment, what you really mean is ‘non-binding forecast’?” Sharp asked.

In response, Croft said: “We endeavour to deliver our forecasts with all of our suppliers and, where we would not deliver that, we would seek to understand what that is. We go to great lengths to try and understand where we think individual categories will be, but we don’t always get those forecasts right.”

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ACCC deputy chairman Mick Keogh then interrupted and said Croft had not answered the question.

“The question was quite specific about the nature of the contractual obligation. You talked about a lot of factors that might be the reason why Coles doesn’t meet that commitment, but you didn’t answer the question about whether it is a legally binding contractual obligation on Coles,” he said.

Croft said she couldn’t add anything more. Coles’ lawyer, Michael Borsky, SC, jumped in, and pointed out the ACCC already has the contractual documents, and that Croft isn’t a lawyer.

Sharp continued her questioning, and Croft started responding by saying Coles has long-term partnerships, but was interrupted again by Sharp, who tried many times to ask if a “commitment” meant something legally binding. This back and forth went on for a while. Sharp asked: “Why won’t you answer my question, Ms Croft?”

Borsky interrupted again. “Chair, I object to the continuation of this line of questioning. It’s impossible that the answers could be of assistance to the inquiry.”

Keogh said this was noted. “I also note that it is an obligation on the witness to answer questions. Perhaps we’ll leave it here for the moment, but we may come back to it.”

The inquiry has adjourned now for lunch, and will return at 2pm AEDT.