diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Dashboard/Hubs/DashboardEventBroadcaster.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Dashboard/Hubs/DashboardEventBroadcaster.cs
index 2e63b08..ae75937 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Dashboard/Hubs/DashboardEventBroadcaster.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Dashboard/Hubs/DashboardEventBroadcaster.cs
@@ -24,9 +24,21 @@ public sealed class DashboardEventBroadcaster(
             return;
         }
 
-        Task send = hubContext.Clients
-            .Group(EventsHub.GroupName(sessionId))
-            .SendAsync(EventsHub.EventMessage, mxEvent);
+        // Wrap the Task acquisition in a try/catch so a hypothetical synchronous throw
+        // from SendAsync (e.g. an implementation that throws before returning the Task)
+        // cannot escape Publish. The interface contract is never-throw; fire-and-forget.
+        Task send;
+        try
+        {
+            send = hubContext.Clients
+                .Group(EventsHub.GroupName(sessionId))
+                .SendAsync(EventsHub.EventMessage, mxEvent);
+        }
+        catch (Exception ex)
+        {
+            logger.LogDebug(ex, "Dashboard event mirror to session {SessionId} threw synchronously.", sessionId);
+            return;
+        }
 
         if (!send.IsCompletedSuccessfully)
         {
diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Sessions/GatewaySession.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Sessions/GatewaySession.cs
index c20b624..086f2df 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Sessions/GatewaySession.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Sessions/GatewaySession.cs
@@ -454,6 +454,14 @@ public sealed class GatewaySession
     // a subscriber is always present at pump start — the dashboard receives events with no
     // gRPC subscriber attached, and the Task 4 "zero-subscriber drain into the void" hang
     // cannot occur. No-op when no dashboard broadcaster was supplied (unit tests).
+    //
+    // Race-safety (Issue 1): _dashboardMirrorLease and _dashboardMirrorTask are published
+    // atomically under a SINGLE second lock section, and DisposeAsync reads/nulls them under
+    // that same lock. After EnsureDistributorCreated/Register/StartPump (all outside _syncRoot
+    // to avoid lock inversion with the distributor's own lifecycle lock), we re-enter
+    // _syncRoot and check for concurrent disposal. If the session is already Closing/Closed/
+    // Faulted at that point, we dispose the just-created lease immediately and do NOT start
+    // the mirror task, so nothing is orphaned.
     private void StartDashboardMirror()
     {
         IDashboardEventBroadcaster? broadcaster = _eventStreaming.DashboardBroadcaster;
@@ -462,7 +470,6 @@ public sealed class GatewaySession
             return;
         }
 
-        SessionEventDistributor distributor;
         CancellationToken loopToken;
         lock (_syncRoot)
         {
@@ -480,18 +487,31 @@ public sealed class GatewaySession
         // internal subscriber BEFORE starting the pump. isInternal: true keeps the dashboard
         // subscriber out of the single-subscriber overflow accounting, so a slow/broken
         // dashboard mirror only disconnects itself and never faults the session.
-        distributor = EnsureDistributorCreated(out bool startNow);
+        // These three calls are OUTSIDE _syncRoot to avoid holding it across
+        // EnsureDistributorCreated's own lock and StartAsync's Task.Run.
+        SessionEventDistributor distributor = EnsureDistributorCreated(out bool startNow);
         IEventSubscriberLease lease = distributor.Register(isInternal: true);
         StartPumpIfRequested(distributor, startNow);
 
+        // Publish BOTH the lease and the task atomically under one lock section so
+        // DisposeAsync always sees them in a consistent state: either both are set or
+        // both are null. If the session already started disposal before we got here,
+        // dispose the lease immediately instead of orphaning it.
         lock (_syncRoot)
         {
-            _dashboardMirrorLease = lease;
-        }
+            if (_state is SessionState.Closing or SessionState.Closed or SessionState.Faulted)
+            {
+                // Disposal already ran (or is in progress) — discard the just-created
+                // lease now so it is not orphaned. Do NOT launch the mirror task.
+                lease.Dispose();
+                return;
+            }
 
-        _dashboardMirrorTask = Task.Run(
-            () => RunDashboardMirrorAsync(broadcaster, lease, loopToken),
-            CancellationToken.None);
+            _dashboardMirrorLease = lease;
+            _dashboardMirrorTask = Task.Run(
+                () => RunDashboardMirrorAsync(broadcaster, lease, loopToken),
+                CancellationToken.None);
+        }
     }
 
     // Reads the internal dashboard subscriber's channel and publishes each RAW fanned event
@@ -556,7 +576,7 @@ public sealed class GatewaySession
     // offending subscriber with an EventQueueOverflow fault; this handler adds the
     // observable side effects, preserving exactly what the pre-epic per-RPC overflow path
     // emitted:
-    //   - always record the queue-overflow metric;
+    //   - always record the queue-overflow metric, labeled by subscriber kind;
     //   - FailFast in the legacy single-subscriber case (isOnlySubscriber): fault the whole
     //     session and record the fault metric, matching back-compat behavior;
     //   - FailFast with multiple subscribers, or DisconnectSubscriber in any case: do NOT
@@ -564,16 +584,23 @@ public sealed class GatewaySession
     //     whole remedy, so other subscribers and the pump are unaffected. Multi-subscriber
     //     FailFast deliberately degrades to a disconnect because faulting a shared session on
     //     one slow consumer would punish healthy subscribers.
+    // The delegate now carries isInternal directly (Issue 4), so the metric label is chosen
+    // without any heuristic: "dashboard-mirror" for internal, "grpc-event-stream" for external.
     private SubscriberOverflowHandler CreateOverflowHandler(EventBackpressurePolicy policy)
     {
         GatewayMetrics metrics = _eventStreaming.Metrics;
-        return isOnlySubscriber =>
+        string sessionId = SessionId;
+        return (isOnlySubscriber, isInternal) =>
         {
-            metrics.QueueOverflow("grpc-event-stream");
+            // Label the overflow metric by subscriber kind. The distributor passes isInternal
+            // directly, so no heuristic is needed to distinguish an internal overflow (the
+            // gateway-owned dashboard mirror) from an external one (a gRPC streaming client).
+            string label = isInternal ? "dashboard-mirror" : "grpc-event-stream";
+            metrics.QueueOverflow(label);
 
             if (policy == EventBackpressurePolicy.FailFast && isOnlySubscriber)
             {
-                MarkFaulted($"Session {SessionId} event stream queue overflowed.");
+                MarkFaulted($"Session {sessionId} event stream queue overflowed.");
                 metrics.Fault(SessionManagerErrorCode.EventQueueOverflow.ToString());
             }
         };
diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Sessions/SessionEventDistributor.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Sessions/SessionEventDistributor.cs
index 6d90d32..dd79de8 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Sessions/SessionEventDistributor.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Sessions/SessionEventDistributor.cs
@@ -17,8 +17,15 @@ namespace ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server.Sessions;
 ///     subscriber at the moment of overflow (legacy single-subscriber mode). FailFast faults
 ///     the session only in this case; with multiple subscribers FailFast degrades to a
 ///     per-subscriber disconnect so one slow consumer never faults a session shared by others.
+///     Always <see langword="false"/> for internal subscribers (the dashboard mirror) because
+///     <see cref="SessionEventDistributor"/> excludes them from the external-subscriber count.
 /// </param>
-public delegate void SubscriberOverflowHandler(bool isOnlySubscriber);
+/// <param name="isInternal">
+///     <see langword="true"/> when the overflowing subscriber is the gateway-owned internal
+///     dashboard mirror subscriber. The handler uses this to choose the correct metric label
+///     (<c>"dashboard-mirror"</c> vs <c>"grpc-event-stream"</c>).
+/// </param>
+public delegate void SubscriberOverflowHandler(bool isOnlySubscriber, bool isInternal);
 
 /// <summary>
 ///     Per-session event pump and fan-out. A single background task drains the
@@ -440,9 +447,10 @@ public sealed class SessionEventDistributor : IAsyncDisposable
 
         // Observability + session-fault decision. Errors here must not stall the pump or
         // leave the subscriber attached, so the disconnect below runs regardless.
+        // Pass subscriber.IsInternal so the handler can choose the correct metric label.
         try
         {
-            _overflowHandler?.Invoke(isOnlySubscriber);
+            _overflowHandler?.Invoke(isOnlySubscriber, subscriber.IsInternal);
         }
         catch (Exception exception)
         {
diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Tests/Gateway/Sessions/GatewaySessionDashboardMirrorTests.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Tests/Gateway/Sessions/GatewaySessionDashboardMirrorTests.cs
index 327ff3b..b458791 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Tests/Gateway/Sessions/GatewaySessionDashboardMirrorTests.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Tests/Gateway/Sessions/GatewaySessionDashboardMirrorTests.cs
@@ -204,12 +204,19 @@ public sealed class GatewaySessionDashboardMirrorTests
         return new WorkerEvent { Event = mxEvent };
     }
 
-    private static async Task WaitUntilAsync(Func<bool> predicate)
+    private static async Task WaitUntilAsync(Func<bool> predicate, [CallerArgumentExpression(nameof(predicate))] string? condition = null)
     {
         using CancellationTokenSource cancellationTokenSource = new(TestTimeout);
-        while (!predicate())
+        try
         {
-            await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(10), cancellationTokenSource.Token);
+            while (!predicate())
+            {
+                await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(10), cancellationTokenSource.Token);
+            }
+        }
+        catch (OperationCanceledException)
+        {
+            Assert.Fail($"Timed out after {TestTimeout.TotalSeconds}s waiting for: {condition}");
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Tests/Gateway/Sessions/SessionEventDistributorTests.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Tests/Gateway/Sessions/SessionEventDistributorTests.cs
index 835f19f..58ca40b 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Tests/Gateway/Sessions/SessionEventDistributorTests.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Tests/Gateway/Sessions/SessionEventDistributorTests.cs
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ public sealed class SessionEventDistributorTests
             replayRetentionSeconds: 0,
             NullLogger<SessionEventDistributor>.Instance,
             TimeProvider.System,
-            isOnlySubscriber =>
+            (isOnlySubscriber, _) =>
             {
                 Interlocked.Increment(ref overflowCalls);
                 Volatile.Write(ref observedIsOnlySubscriberValue, isOnlySubscriber);
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@ public sealed class SessionEventDistributorTests
             replayRetentionSeconds: 0,
             NullLogger<SessionEventDistributor>.Instance,
             TimeProvider.System,
-            isOnlySubscriber =>
+            (isOnlySubscriber, _) =>
             {
                 if (!isOnlySubscriber)
                 {
@@ -458,6 +458,68 @@ public sealed class SessionEventDistributorTests
         Assert.Equal(11ul, afterOverflow.WorkerSequence);
     }
 
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task InternalSubscriberOverflow_HandlerSeesIsOnlySubscriberFalse_ProvingCountExcludesInternal()
+    {
+        // Issue 3: verifies that CountExternalSubscribers() excludes the internal dashboard
+        // subscriber, so a FailFast policy would NOT fault the session even when the internal
+        // subscriber is the ONLY registered subscriber.  The overflow handler receives
+        // isOnlySubscriber==false (not true) because the overflowing subscriber is internal
+        // and is therefore excluded from the external-subscriber count.
+        Channel<MxEvent> source = Channel.CreateUnbounded<MxEvent>();
+        int observedIsOnlySubscriberSet = 0;
+        bool observedIsOnlySubscriberValue = false;
+        bool observedIsInternalValue = false;
+        await using SessionEventDistributor distributor = new(
+            "session-internal-overflow",
+            ct => source.Reader.ReadAllAsync(ct),
+            subscriberQueueCapacity: 2,
+            replayBufferCapacity: 0,
+            replayRetentionSeconds: 0,
+            NullLogger<SessionEventDistributor>.Instance,
+            TimeProvider.System,
+            (isOnlySubscriber, isInternal) =>
+            {
+                Volatile.Write(ref observedIsOnlySubscriberValue, isOnlySubscriber);
+                Volatile.Write(ref observedIsInternalValue, isInternal);
+                Volatile.Write(ref observedIsOnlySubscriberSet, 1);
+            });
+        await distributor.StartAsync(CancellationToken.None);
+
+        // Register ONLY an internal subscriber — no external subscriber is attached.
+        using IEventSubscriberLease internalLease = distributor.Register(isInternal: true);
+
+        // Push enough events to overflow the capacity-2 internal subscriber channel.
+        for (ulong sequence = 1; sequence <= 10; sequence++)
+        {
+            source.Writer.TryWrite(Event(sequence));
+        }
+
+        // The internal subscriber is disconnected with the overflow fault.
+        SessionManagerException fault = await Assert.ThrowsAsync<SessionManagerException>(
+            async () => await DrainUntilFaultAsync(internalLease.Reader));
+        Assert.Equal(SessionManagerErrorCode.EventQueueOverflow, fault.ErrorCode);
+
+        // Wait for the handler to fire (it runs on the pump thread).
+        await Task.Run(async () =>
+        {
+            using CancellationTokenSource cts = new(ReadTimeout);
+            while (Volatile.Read(ref observedIsOnlySubscriberSet) == 0)
+            {
+                await Task.Delay(10, cts.Token);
+            }
+        });
+
+        // isOnlySubscriber must be FALSE even though the internal subscriber was the ONLY
+        // subscriber — CountExternalSubscribers excludes it, so a FailFast policy on the
+        // external count would NOT fault the session.
+        Assert.True(Volatile.Read(ref observedIsOnlySubscriberSet) == 1, "Overflow handler should have fired.");
+        Assert.False(Volatile.Read(ref observedIsOnlySubscriberValue),
+            "isOnlySubscriber must be false for an internal subscriber (CountExternalSubscribers excludes it).");
+        Assert.True(Volatile.Read(ref observedIsInternalValue),
+            "isInternal must be true for a subscriber registered with isInternal: true.");
+    }
+
     private static async Task DrainUntilFaultAsync(ChannelReader<MxEvent> reader)
     {
         // Drains any buffered events, then surfaces the channel's completion fault (if any)