By the time the final whistle approaches, the evening sun will have dipped, casting long shadows across Wembley’s wide expanses. As the television cameras zoom in to capture the starkly contrasting emotions of winners and losers, the answers to a series of questions should become clear.

Will Arsenal’s renaissance under their Australian coach, Joe Montemurro, result in a 15th FA Cup win? Or might his Chelsea counterpart, Emma Hayes, clinch the first part of the domestic league and cup double she aims to secure before giving birth to twins next month?

Can Katie Chapman, Chelsea’s captain, lift the trophy for a record 10th time in a 21-year career during which time she has produced three children? If so, Chapman will need to hold her own in a duel with Arsenal’s England midfielder Jordan Nobbs.

Chelsea’s Fran Kirby wants to remind everyone why she has scored 22 goals in 31 games this season while also collecting virtually every individual award going. Wembley seems the perfect stage for her to showcase the talent that has led the forward, who as a teenager overcame severe depression, to be dubbed England’s mini-Messi.

“We can rely on Fran, she’s world-class,” says Chelsea’s England goalkeeper Carly Telford, who hopes to oust the regular first choice, Sweden’s outstanding Hedvig Lindahl, on Saturday. “She’s brilliant at playing between the lines.”

Montemurro, a clean-sheet specialist, aims to fulfil a hope nurtured by cheering on Arsenal men while watching two-week-old editions of Match of the Day and The Big Match during his childhood in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

An anticipated record attendance for a women’s FA Cup final will gather beneath the forecasted strong May sun to see whether the 48-year-old can outwit Hayes and collect his second trophy since taking charge last autumn after Arsenal controversially sacked Pedro Martínez Losa.

“After a difficult few years when we lost our way a bit we’d like to show everyone that it’s not all about Chelsea and Manchester City,” Nobbs says. “We want to show Arsenal are back and ready to really challenge again.”

Once imperious in their domination of the women’s game, they have fallen behind Chelsea and City, who are once again vying for the title but Montemurro has tightened Arsenal’s defence appreciably and his side have beaten City to win the Continental Cup.

“Before Joe arrived, our team wasn’t all on the same page,” Nobbs says. “Players were performing as individuals but he’s taken us back to basics, made things very simple and created a strong framework in which we can develop our passing game and play the Arsenal way.

“He’s a lovely, really positive, guy and he’s allowed me to focus on the more attacking, creative role where I feel I’m at my best.”

Whereas Montemurro describes the prospect of leading out Arsenal at Wembley as surreal and fantastic, Hayes will sit things out on the sidelines, leaving her assistant, Paul Green, to do the honours.

Eight months pregnant, the 41-year-old knows her limits. “Physically, it’s uncomfortable and I’ve been advised to take it easy so I’ll stay in the background,” she says. “It’s better for my babies if I sit down. I don’t mind. I’m a woman. I don’t have a big ego.”

Telford is impressed how Hayes manages the assorted egos in a highly competitive Chelsea squad. “As others have said, I’m sure Emma could do very well at a high level in the men’s game,” she says. “But I think Emma’s happy in women’s football. She realises its fantastic potential in England.”

Hayes also knows responsibility can be safely delegated to Chapman. Now 35, Chapman first won the FA Cup as a 14-year-old at Millwall. “I’m excited,” says the former England midfielder, whose side will want to banish the disappointment of last Sunday’s Champions League semi-final defeat by Wolfsburg by winning their second FA Cup. “Lifting the trophy again would be wonderful.”

With more than 45,000 tickets sold and the match televised live at primetime on BBC One for the first time, Chapman would do so in a spotlight brighter than ever before.

Emma Hayes could do very well in the men's game – but I think she's happy in women's football Carly Telford

If the crowd should exceed the record 35,271 who watched Manchester City overcome Bimingham in last year’s final – a far cry from the disappointing 4,998 gathered at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium when Arsenal beat Bristol Academy in 2013 – soaring interest in women’s football has brought increased scrutiny, not all of it entirely welcome.

Behind closed doors, the wounds inflicted by Mark Sampson’s sacking as England manager last autumn after Eni Aluko’s well-documented complaints still fester. Aluko, an infrequent Chelsea starter this season, is likely to be a substitute. With her contract ending this summer, the future remains uncertain for a striker no longer on speaking terms with several former England team-mates and so far overlooked by Phil Neville, Sampson’s successor.

At 31, this could be Aluko’s Wembley swansong. Might a figure who polarises opinion like no other in the female game step off the bench to goalscoring effect?

Nobbs trusts it will be Arsenal’s day, with England’s Beth Mead, Montemurro’s leading scorer, or the Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema possibly registering the winner. “We’ve got a lot of experience,” she says, pointing out that Sari van Veenendaal, Danielle van de Donk and Dominque Janssen featured, like Miedema, in the Netherlands Euro 2017 triumph.

“Joe’s made sure our mentality’s strong,” Nobbs says. “Winning the FA Cup would be the perfect way to prove we’re all back on the same page.”

• This article was amended on 10 May 2018. Due to a miscommunication from the BBC’s press office, an earlier version said this would be the first women’s FA cup final broadcast live on BBC One. It was the first broadcast at primetime on that channel.