The whole thing began with Hugh Grant arriving at the high court in a blaze of camera flashes – and ended with the Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre arguing over what the actor had said. In between it took up 40 days, with victims of crime, arrested journalists, a multi-millionaire author and every national daily newspaper editor among the 184 witnesses in court 73. Its presiding judge was shown pictures of a topless Carla Bruni and sent confidential material on the truth – or otherwise – of deleted voicemails on Milly Dowler's phone. It is the Leveson inquiry into press standards, and after all that, the team have only completed part one, which ended on Friday. The others concern relations with the police, politicians and ethics. Lord Justice Leveson says he does not want to end up a "footnote in some professor of journalism's analysis of 21st century history". Amid the blizzard of evidence, what has he learned?

1 There is a McCann problem

Leveson started in November with evidence from Grant, and complaints from the father of a 7/7 victim that the inquiry had been "hijacked by celebrities". However, it was the evidence of Kate and Gerry McCann, pictured, that had the most impact – the family whose search for their daughter in 2007 became a press ordeal a year later when they were accused of killing her. A halting Kate talked of "journalists [who] said we stored her body in a freezer"; photographers jumping out of bushes and shaking their car to get a startled look; and how she "felt totally violated" when the News of the World published her diaries without permission. Richard Desmond's Express group paid £550,000 in damages, and the News of the World £125,000. Their testimony raised a simple issue: what happens when the next ordinary family is in the eye of the media storm? In the weeks afterwards, Leveson repeatedly talked about the need for ordinary people to obtain redress.

2 Celebrities have feelings too

Steve Coogan, the actor and comedian, complained that he had been tricked into giving information about where his children were schooled by a Sunday Times interviewer; and what he thought was a private conversation was published. JK Rowling, pictured, the Harry Potter author, gave passionate evidence about keeping her children from being photographed, and was also distressed discussing a "vehement" Sunday Mirror article, which said her husband was "at the beck and call of his obscenely rich wife".

3 Plotting over new regulator has begun

The Press Complaints Commission is dead. It died before hearings began, when Dacre gave an electric speech in which he attacked almost everybody else in the media for causing the crisis, before conceding that a reformed regulator would need an "ombudsman" to investigate scandals, summon editors and in cases of the "most extreme malfeasance" impose fines. Leveson took the point, saying repeatedly that the PCC had failed. His powers are, however, limited. With everybody wanting to keep self-regulation, he cannot impose. Nevertheless, he seemed surprised when Lord Hunt, pictured, the new PCC chairman, indicated that the new body should have a "standards and compliance" arm and a "complaints and mediation" arm – and newspapers should be bound to membership by signing five-year contracts with the body.

4 There is also a Desmond problem

Richard Desmond's Express and Star titles are no longer members of the PCC, creating a headache for those wanting a tougher form of self-regulation. It did not help that Desmond, pictured, performed a comedy turn in January, blaming the PCC for failing to stop his newspapers writing incorrectly about the McCanns, describing it as a "useless organisation run by people who wanted tea and biscuits, and phone hackers". It appeared there was no way to force him to join, although there was talk of incentives, such as taking away VAT exemption on non-PCC member titles. Hunt surprised everybody by saying that he could bring Desmond along without using the law.

5 There's a way to go on hacking

It was the problem the inquiry dared not address, and for a good reason: the ongoing criminal inquiry. Sue Akers, the deputy assistant commissioner in charge of the phone hacking investigation, did say in February that 829 identifiable individuals had been hacked. The situation also created the curiosity in which several News of the World journalists, who had been arrested on suspicion of hacking, gave evidence to the inquiry, including Neil Wallis, pictured, a former deputy editor, Neville Thurlbeck, a former chief reporter, and Ian Edmondson, a former news editor. Leveson will return to hacking in phase two, which will begin whenever any criminal trials conclude.

6 Journalists want a new deal on libel

Leveson floated the idea of a "libel and privacy tribunal" in January. Debating with Lionel Barber, pictured, the editor of the Financial Times, he suggested that there would be a role in the new system of press self-regulation for "some sort of arbitral system for speedy resolution of privacy claims, potentially small libel claims", because the costs of bringing actions and defending cases was unnecessarily high. The idea quickly proved popular on Fleet Street – where editors have long complained of the six and seven figure cost of libel and privacy actions – as a possible win for an industry that otherwise will have to bow to greater regulation.

7 Editors fear political control

James Harding, pictured, the editor of the Times, and John Witherow, of the Sunday Times, used similar arguments in January to oppose a "Leveson act" – statutory regulation. Harding said that could lead to politicians interfering with regulation. Witherow said that Alastair Campbell's reaction to the BBC reporting of the Iraq war dossier was an example of what happens when the government feels it controls the media.

8 Misdeeds are still being uncovered

The inquiry travelled over much familiar ground. But Harding was recalled in February for an uncomfortable hour in which he had to go over a single incident of computer hacking in 2008, by Patrick Foster, a former Times reporter, to identify a blogger – and his newspaper's decision to publish a story about the individual even after it knew how the information emerged. There remains a question also for Colin Myler, pictured, the last editor of the News of the World, over the decision to publish Kate McCann's diary. Myler said that he thought Edmondson had obtained the McCanns' permission. But he was contradicted by Edmondson last week, who said that Myler had instructed him to tell the McCanns of their intentions in very "woolly terms" so they would not take action to prevent publication.

9 Privacy is battling it out with the public interest

Ryan Giggs, the footballer, did not attend, but Garry Flitcroft did. The former Blackburn Rovers player, who failed in the high court to stop the Sunday People revealing an extramarital affair in 2002, said that "there's no reason why my private life should be in the public interest" and he attributed his father's suicide to depression brought on by the coverage. Not every journalist agreed, with many from the tabloids talking of the need to expose "hypocrisy" if a celebrity was living a "false public image". Ian Hislop, the editor of Private Eye said that reporting about sex can be in the public interest. "It is wrong to suggest that there can never be a public interest in a person's sexual relationship. It all depends on the circumstances," he said. The inquiry did not dwell on such differences, and it was not until Dacre, pictured, gave evidence last week that he offered one solution – a commission to define "public interest".

10 Pippa Middleton is in demand

Pippa Middleton did not need to turn up to contribute. Paul Silva, the picture editor of the Daily Mail, said that the title received up to 400 images of her daily, because photographers snap her whenever she leaves home. He said he only used pictures of her at public events or where permission had been given. There was much evidence critical of paparazzi photographers, with Sienna Miller, pictured, capturing it most simply. "Take away the cameras," she said, "and you've got a pack of men chasing a woman."