diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker.Tests/MxAccess/MxAccessEventQueueTests.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker.Tests/MxAccess/MxAccessEventQueueTests.cs
index 82eba17..f01c42f 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker.Tests/MxAccess/MxAccessEventQueueTests.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker.Tests/MxAccess/MxAccessEventQueueTests.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Diagnostics;
 using System.Threading;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Contracts.Proto;
@@ -389,20 +390,32 @@ public sealed class MxAccessEventQueueTests
     }
 
     /// <summary>
-    ///     Verifies the timeout still bounds an unsignalled wait: the fallback survives as a ceiling
-    ///     on how long a caller may sleep, so a state change reached by some future path that does
-    ///     not signal is still observed on the next pass rather than never.
+    ///     Verifies the timeout still bounds an unsignalled wait, from both sides: the wait ends
+    ///     without a signal (the fallback survives as a ceiling, so a state change reached by some
+    ///     future path that does not signal is still observed on the next pass rather than never)
+    ///     and it does not end early (the wait really is the timeout, not an already-armed permit
+    ///     completing it instantly). A longer-than-production timeout is used so the lower bound
+    ///     carries a wide margin over timer resolution.
     /// </summary>
     /// <returns>A task that represents the asynchronous operation.</returns>
     [Fact]
     public async Task WaitForEventsAsync_WithNoSignal_CompletesAtTheFallbackTimeout()
     {
         MxAccessEventQueue queue = new(capacity: 4);
+        TimeSpan fallback = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(200);
+        Stopwatch elapsed = Stopwatch.StartNew();
 
-        Task wait = queue.WaitForEventsAsync(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(25), CancellationToken.None);
+        Task wait = queue.WaitForEventsAsync(fallback, CancellationToken.None);
 
         Assert.Same(wait, await Task.WhenAny(wait, Task.Delay(WakePatience)));
         await wait;
+        elapsed.Stop();
+
+        // Half the timeout: far enough below it to be immune to timer resolution, far enough above
+        // zero to fail an implementation that returned a completed task instead of waiting.
+        Assert.True(
+            elapsed.Elapsed >= TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(100),
+            $"Unsignalled wait returned after {elapsed.ElapsedMilliseconds} ms, well inside its {fallback.TotalMilliseconds} ms fallback.");
     }
 
     /// <summary>Verifies a cancelled wait unwinds instead of hanging until the fallback expires.</summary>
diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker.Tests/TestSupport/FakeRuntimeSession.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker.Tests/TestSupport/FakeRuntimeSession.cs
index 84edc37..b5a4252 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker.Tests/TestSupport/FakeRuntimeSession.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker.Tests/TestSupport/FakeRuntimeSession.cs
@@ -303,6 +303,17 @@ internal sealed class FakeRuntimeSession : IWorkerRuntimeSession
 
         if (BackingQueue is not null)
         {
+            if (WaitForEventsOnSignalOnly)
+            {
+                // The two are mutually exclusive: a real backing queue owns its own signal and
+                // always honours the timeout, so silently letting it win would leave a
+                // signal-only test passing on a fallback tick — exactly the false green the
+                // option exists to rule out.
+                throw new InvalidOperationException(
+                    "FakeRuntimeSession cannot combine BackingQueue with WaitForEventsOnSignalOnly: "
+                    + "the backing queue honours the fallback timeout, which defeats the signal-only wait.");
+            }
+
             // Tests that drive a real queue enqueue into it directly, so the real queue owns the
             // wake signal too.
             return BackingQueue.WaitForEventsAsync(timeout, cancellationToken);
diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker/MxAccess/IWorkerRuntimeSession.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker/MxAccess/IWorkerRuntimeSession.cs
index cabfd82..e1050c8 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker/MxAccess/IWorkerRuntimeSession.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker/MxAccess/IWorkerRuntimeSession.cs
@@ -68,6 +68,11 @@ public interface IWorkerRuntimeSession : IDisposable
     ///     no default interface members, so every implementation supplies it. The wait's outcome is
     ///     not surfaced: the caller re-drains and re-checks <see cref="DrainFault"/> after every
     ///     wait, because the signal is coalesced and the timeout is a ceiling, not a poll period.
+    ///     <para>
+    ///         Precondition: <b>at most one waiter</b>. The implementation's wake signal carries a
+    ///         single permit, which is sufficient only because a session has exactly one event
+    ///         drain loop; a second concurrent waiter would degrade to the fallback timeout.
+    ///     </para>
     /// </remarks>
     /// <param name="timeout">Maximum time to wait before the wait completes unsignalled.</param>
     /// <param name="cancellationToken">Token cancelling the wait.</param>
diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker/MxAccess/MxAccessEventQueue.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker/MxAccess/MxAccessEventQueue.cs
index c22288d..5bcf9e1 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker/MxAccess/MxAccessEventQueue.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Worker/MxAccess/MxAccessEventQueue.cs
@@ -75,6 +75,13 @@ public sealed class MxAccessEventQueue
     // waiter, no wait handle is ever materialized (nothing touches AvailableWaitHandle), and making
     // the queue IDisposable would only add a lifecycle race between the STA's Enqueue and the
     // drain loop's wait. WorkerFrameWriter's _writeLock is held the same way.
+    //
+    // It must STAY a SemaphoreSlim: on .NET Framework 4.8, Release() hands an async waiter to the
+    // thread pool (the waiter is a TaskNode : IThreadPoolWorkItem) rather than completing it
+    // inline, so the STA thread's Enqueue never runs the drain loop's continuation. Swapping this
+    // for a TaskCompletionSource — a refactor that looks cosmetic — would complete the waiter
+    // inline on the caller and put the drain loop's pipe write on the apartment thread, which is a
+    // real STA/COM reentrancy hazard (and stalls the message pump behind the write).
     private readonly SemaphoreSlim eventSignal = new SemaphoreSlim(initialCount: 0, maxCount: 1);
 
     private ulong lastEventSequence;
@@ -257,6 +264,13 @@ public sealed class MxAccessEventQueue
     ///     enqueues. The timeout is therefore a ceiling on how long the caller may sleep, not a
     ///     poll period: it bounds how late a state change reaches the caller if some future path
     ///     mutates the queue without signalling.
+    ///     <para>
+    ///         Precondition: <b>at most one waiter</b>. One permit is sufficient only because the
+    ///         queue has exactly one consumer (the worker's single event drain loop). A second
+    ///         concurrent waiter would find no permit left for it and degrade to the fallback
+    ///         timeout, so a design that needs multiple drainers must widen the signal rather than
+    ///         reuse this one.
+    ///     </para>
     /// </remarks>
     /// <param name="timeout">Maximum time to wait before the wait completes unsignalled.</param>
     /// <param name="cancellationToken">Token cancelling the wait.</param>