Despite 13 being considered an unlucky number, the 13th day of Sydney’s bombshell corruption inquiry opened with the promise that the tide of deflections and dismal recollections from previous witnesses was finally going to change.

Was there going to be a rollover witness at last?

Sitting in the witness box, with a sheen of feverish sweat across his brow, was Dallas James McInerney, who recently stepped aside as the chief executive of Catholic Schools NSW.

“I understand that you are eager to assist the commission in the conduct of this inquiry?” counsel assisting Juliet Curtin asked the 53-year-old.