Salman Abedi scouted the Manchester Arena four days before launching a terror attack that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert, the Old Bailey heard today.
The radical Islamist, 22, performed a solo reconnaissance trip on his first day back from Libya, where he is suspected of learning bomb-making, in May 2017.
Chilling footage shows the moment that Abedi walked past Take That concert-goers as he plotted the suicide bombing which also left 119 with serious injuries.
He arrived back in Britain from Libya after 11am on May 18, before meeting with a Nissan Micra parked in Rusholme to purchase bomb parts.
Abedi then told a landlady that he wanted to rent a Granby Row flat for two weeks.
Salman Abedi was spotted at various locations in and around Manchester on May 18 2017 after arriving into the city’s airport
He is seen entering a shopping centre (pictured above) after he got off an indirect flight from Libya
Abedi told a landlady that he wanted to rent a Granby Row flat for two weeks, he is pictured above meeting with her
The Old Bailey today heard that Abedi (above) was walking through the High Street just days before the attack
Just before 6pm that day, he emerged from the third floor wearing tracksuit trousers, trainers, hooded, and walking casually across the road, arms swinging.
He walked through Piccadilly Gardens, turned right off Market Street, down the High Street towards Shudehill tram stop to catch a ride.
Getting off at Victoria tram station at 6.18pm, Abedi walked onto Station Approach and then along Hunts Bank, using his mobile as he went and stopping to talk to an Arena worker, before walking along the main road with the arena on his right.
Abedi is pictured above getting off a bus in the city before he carries on with his trip
Abedi was seen going into a WHSmith store when he got off at Manchester Airport
At 6.20pm, he walked past the main exit and past what appeared to be group of concert goers at the service entrance in Trinity Way, turning to take a look.
The terrorist walked through the Trinity Way Link foot tunnel, looking at his phone as he walked, and swapping his SIM card in and out of an Alcatel handset he had brought with him and a Samsung S3 he had bought just that day.
Walking into the stairwell leading up to the City Room foyer where he later set off his device, Abedi passed a man in shorts and a young woman with her parents.
At 6.35pm, he walked into the City Room and past a long queue at the box office, behind two security guards, towards the main arena entrance.
For a minute he wandered up and down in front of the entrance doors with his hands behind his back, holding his mobile phone, mingling with the crowds.
At 6.36pm, Abedi walked past a queue and out onto the footbridge leading back down to the station, looking around at fans as they entered behind him.
He skipped downstairs and by 6.39pm was back in the station, having done a full circuit of the Arena, walking past a group of women eating at a picnic table.
By 7.10pm, Abed had made it to the Arndale Centre where he went into a Wilko and bought a four-pack of Duracell plus power batteries for £14.
He then went to Sports Direct, where he passed over a large blue Kangol hard suitcase before paying £40 to a woman in a grey headscarf and glasses.
Abedi left the Arndale Centre at 7.24pm and walked along Market Street towards Piccadilly Gardens, pulling the suitcase behind him, and got into a black cab.
The cab arrived at Screwfix, Piccadilly Trading Estate at 7.34pm. Soon afterwards, the terrorist bought two four-packs of halogen capsule lamps, two rolls of silver mesh cloth tape and a length of flexible electrical cable for £25.76.
He got back to Granby Row at 8.04pm, emerging at 8.11am on May 19 with the empty suitcase and riding a taxi to Rusholme, to visit the Nissan Micra.
Abedi spent eight minutes packing the suitcase before walking back down the road and getting in a white taxi to take him back to Granby Row.
CCTV caught him at 9.26am lifting the heavy suitcase out of the boot of the taxi and dragging it along the cobbled road.
It took both hands to lift it onto the pavement at Granby Row as passers-by walked past, and he had to life it up the front steps one step at a time.
Salman Abedi had returned from Libya alone but his brother, Hashem Abedi, denies 22 counts of murder and further counts of attempted murder and conspiracy to cause explosions by helping his brother make the bomb and the case continues.