ATLAS commissioning and physics with early data

The ATLAS detector is now in its commissioning phase, with many sub-detectors and the trigger-DAQ system having already been exercised in integrated commissioning runs using cosmic events. This talk will briefly review the current status of the commissioning and look ahead to the next stages when the first LHC beams become available. The role of physics channels in commissioning with data and the prospects for early physics measurements at 14TeV are presented