Rockhampton residents knew the “potential gravity” of the season months ahead of the devastating January floods, the Queensland flood commission has heard.

In the final week of the hearings, the court heard how a meeting on 14 October last year “clearly articulated” the dangers of the predicted wet season.

Police Inspector David Peff told the commission the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) had made the predicted dangers clear.

This has been a common theme in the seven-week inquiry, with earlier testimony showing the Queensland Government had also been given advance warning of a wetter than average summer.

It was also revealed that regional councils believed earlier warnings from the BOM would not have made any difference because local disaster control centres were already on standby.

In the final days of the hearings the commission also heard how crucial communication sharing with the media helped to keep residents informed.

Mr Peff said Rockhampton was isolated, with both the rail and road networks shut down, and police turned to social media to get messages out there.

The commission heard that setting up a media liaison officer had been one of the first steps to ensure people where getting the right information.

“It was far better to be working with the media than against them,” Mr Peff told the commission.

He says the use of Facebook and other social media enabled police to get the right information out to residents. A lot of the media liaison work was aimed at “killing rumours”.

Following the final testimonies in the first round of hearings, the commission announced an extension for submissions on “insurance companies” until June 15. The Queensland Government has granted the inquiry an extra five weeks to complete the final report by February 24 next year.

However, the commission will now consider all the testimony given to date before releasing an interim report into the floods on August 1.