The government-appointed commission headed by former judge Eliyahu Winograd will deliver the report to Olmert on Wednesday, eight months after an interim inquiry found the premier and other leaders responsible for "severe failures."

Although the report is not expected to contain a direct call for Olmert to resign, an official closely involved in the commission's work told AFP that "the report will be as harsh as the previous one."

As the key day nears, bereaved families, reservists and politicians have renewed calls for Olmert to step down over the war, sparked by the Shiite Hezbollah militia capturing two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

Olmert, who has also been embroiled in allegations of corruption, has already been quoted as saying that he had "absolutely no intention" to step down after the release of the final report.

Speaking to Kadima party lawmakers in parliament on Monday, the premier voiced confidence that he and his centrist party "still have many years in power."

Last week, 50 reserve infantry company commanders sent Olmert a letter calling on him to assume responsibility for the failures of the 34-day war and "declare that you will accept the conclusions of the final Winograd Committee report".

But his future depends on his key coalition partner, the centre-left Labour party, whose chairman, Defence Minister Ehud Barak, has said he would decide on whether to quit only after the report is released.

Labour's exit would leave the governing coalition short of the necessary 61 MP majority in the 120-member parliament.

Although Barak has hinted he did not wish to bring down the government -- a move that would likely lead to new elections and a victory of the right-wing Likud party -- he might be unable to resist public pressure.

"The public dynamic will develop according to the degree of criticism in the report and the ability of those calling for Olmert's resignation to create momentum," said Nahum Barnea, a senior columnist in the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot daily.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

It was largely perceived by the Israeli public as a failure after the army was unable to halt the firing of thousands of rockets against the north of the country and retrieve the two soldiers, whose fate remains unknown to this day.

The interim war report released in April 2007 spared no criticism of Olmert, then-defence minister Amir Peretz and ex-army chief Dan Halutz, who both quit in the months of protest that followed the war.

The embattled premier has in recent days gone of the defensive in the face of a fresh wave of protest. In a keynote speech at a conference last week, Olmert defended the outcome of the war.

"To summarise 2007, I would like to mark a fact that is clearly felt today by the broader public in the country -- it is quiet in the north of Israel," he said.

In a sign he was bracing for a battle for his survival, a senior aide told AFP that Olmert has in recent weeks "met several times with lawyers and legal advisors to prepare for the report and its possible outcomes."

The report was expected to focus on Olmert's controversial decision to order a massive ground offensive in south Lebanon 60 hours before a UN-brokered ceasefire agreement was due to take effect on August 14.

Thirty-three Israeli soldiers were killed in the offensive launched one hour after the final version of Security Council Resolution 1701 was presented to Israel.

"Of all the chapters of the war, this chapter elicits, at the moment, the greatest emotional turmoil," Barnea wrote last week.

"An overwhelming majority in Israel justified the decision to respond to the kidnapping of the soldiers with a military operation in Lebanon. Many have asked, and are still asking, why soldiers were sent into battle after the UN made the decision on the ceasefire."