Wavefront coding technology employs a phase mask to modulate the phase of incident light, thereby dispersing the laser spot on the detector and achieving laser protection for optical systems. Current research has predominantly concentrated on validating laser damage at a single imaging distance, neglecting the evolution of protective capability across varying distances in the wavefront coding imaging system. To address this limitation, this study establishes a wavefront coding imaging system based on a cubic phase function and experimentally elucidates the variation of laser suppression capacity with transmission distance. Under conditions of pulsed laser-induced point damage in the visible spectrum, a strong correlation is observed between the laser suppression ratio and the laser damage threshold improvement value. Additionally, the NAFNet model is utilized to restore encoded images, resulting in high-fidelity reconstruction. The PSNR for both simulated and experimentally decoded images consistently surpasses 23 dB. Furthermore, under laser irradiation conditions, the model adeptly eliminates laser artifacts and recovers image content. This study possesses considerable practical value for the design and implementation of laser protection mechanisms in optical systems.