The hearing, at London’s Royal Courts of Justice, is expected to last seven weeks. The coroner, Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith, will sit without a jury and listen to evidence from witnesses including the tour operator, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the RIU Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Sousse, where the attack took place.

He will hear an account of how each guest died, what security was in place, details of the terrorist Seifeddine Rezgui’s background and preparations, the events on the day, forensic evidence and the response from the emergency services. The advice offered by the Foreign Office and what travel companies knew about the risk of an attack will also be scrutinised.

Law firm Irwin Mitchell is representing 20 of the 30 victims plus many others who were injured physically and who have suffered trauma during and after the attack by the lone gunman.

In all, 49 people are listed by the court as being affected by the attack. Another eight people from Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Russia and Portugal were killed. 

The law firm’s barrister, Andrew Ritchie, QC said: “These inquests will seek to answer important questions for the families, in particular: how their loved ones came to be exposed to terrorism at the five star hotel; whether Tui communicated Foreign & Commonwealth Office terrorism warnings to their customers before or after bookings; the security arrangements (if any) in place at the Imperial Hotel and whether the holiday insurance sold by Tui to customers covered terrorism.”

He added that the families wanted to see a better warning system in place to prevent future deaths and to enable holidaymakers to make “better-informed decisions when purchasing holidays abroad”.