  The Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) is one of the
first-generation scientific instruments for the ELT, built under the
supervision of ESO by a consortium of research institutes across and beyond
Europe. Designed to cover the 3 to 13 $\mu$m wavelength range, METIS had its
final design reviewed in Fall 2022, and has then entered in earnest its
manufacture, assembly, integration, and test (MAIT) phase. Here, we present the
final design of the METIS high-contrast imaging (HCI) modes. We detail the
implementation of the two main coronagraphic solutions selected for METIS,
namely the vortex coronagraph and the apodizing phase plate, including their
combination with the high-resolution integral field spectrograph of METIS, and
briefly describe their respective backup plans (Lyot coronagraph and shaped
pupil plate). We then describe the status of the MAIT phase for HCI modes,
including a review of the final design of individual components such as the
vortex phase masks, the grayscale ring apodizer, and the apodizing phase
plates, as well as a description of their on-going performance tests and of our
plans for system-level integration and tests. Using end-to-end simulations, we
predict the performance that will be reached on sky by the METIS HCI modes in
presence of various environmental and instrumental disturbances, including
non-common path aberrations and water vapor seeing, and discuss our strategy to
mitigate these various effects. We finally illustrate with mock observations
and data processing that METIS should be capable of directly imaging temperate
rocky planets around the nearest stars.
