Evaluates the value of the global step variable if it is set, otherwise returns the
        current iteration number.

def global_step(self) -> int:
        """
        Evaluates the value of the global step variable if it is set, otherwise returns the
        current iteration number.
        """
        if self.session is None or self.global_step_tensor is None:
            return self.iteration_no + self.init_global_step
        else:
            return self.session.run(self.global_step_tensor)