The LIL which is under construction at the French Atomic Energy Commission CESTA center is an 8 beam facility -- 60 kJ @ 0.35 μm -- dedicated to laser matter interaction experiments. This facility is now in the last construction phase and the first experiments have already been conducted in order to demonstrate the performances of both front end and multipath high energy section at 1.05 μm. The experiments that were recently conducted have demonstrated the efficiency of the 4 pass and L-turn amplification concept, and already show that the expected output intensity performance at 1w has been reached. Moreover, these experiments have confirmed the capability of our laser simulation code (Miro) to predict this laser output performance. We are currently implementing the 1w/3w conversion and focusing system, which combines for each beam a large 1w grating associated with KDP/DKDP frequency doubler and tripler and a large 3w (0.35 μm) focusing grating. Focal spot size will be available in the 0.5 to 4 mm range with either a circular or elliptical spatial profile. LIL will also support the beam smoothing capability (longitudinal or transverse). The 1w section is currently under tests at the kJ level, and 3w tests will be performed very soon. The LIL prototype facility is the first step of the French Atomic Energy Commission program toward the construction of the 240 beam Laser Megajoule (LMJ) facility which will enable us to conduct high energy density experimental program in the 640 TW @ 2 MJ range before the end of this decade.