As regards the primordial creation, time itself was apparently created with and at the beginning of the creation of the Universe as recorded in the first verse of the Bible. This, then, was "the beginning" — the beginning of time.
After this, the created Earth remained in its pristine condition without form and void, when darkness was upon the surface of the deep. Gen. 1:1-2a. How long this condition continued before God made light, we are not told. It may have lasted less than a second — or it may have endured for considerably longer. God has kept this a secret, and not revealed it to us. For "the secret things belong to the Lord our God" — and not to us or to our children. Deut. 29:29.