diff --git a/internal/idlewatcher/handle_http.go b/internal/idlewatcher/handle_http.go
index 84f4ba55..e43bd9a7 100644
--- a/internal/idlewatcher/handle_http.go
+++ b/internal/idlewatcher/handle_http.go
@@ -176,7 +176,14 @@ func (w *Watcher) wakeFromHTTP(rw http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) (shouldN
 	}
 
 	if !acceptHTML {
-		serveStaticContent(rw, http.StatusOK, "text/plain", []byte("Container woken"))
+		// send a continue response to prevent client wait-header timeout
+		rw.WriteHeader(http.StatusContinue)
+		ready := w.waitForReady(r.Context())
+		if !ready {
+			serveStaticContent(rw, http.StatusInternalServerError, "text/plain", []byte("Timeout waiting for container to become ready"))
+		} else {
+			http.Redirect(rw, r, r.URL.Path, http.StatusSeeOther)
+		}
 		return false
 	}
 
diff --git a/internal/idlewatcher/state.go b/internal/idlewatcher/state.go
index 2aa06dcc..46aee9a2 100644
--- a/internal/idlewatcher/state.go
+++ b/internal/idlewatcher/state.go
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ func (w *Watcher) waitForReady(ctx context.Context) bool {
 	// Wait for ready notification or context cancellation
 	select {
 	case <-w.readyNotifyCh:
-		return w.ready() // double-check in case of race condition
+		return true
 	case <-ctx.Done():
 		return false
 	}
diff --git a/internal/idlewatcher/watcher.go b/internal/idlewatcher/watcher.go
index d042da61..90a5030b 100644
--- a/internal/idlewatcher/watcher.go
+++ b/internal/idlewatcher/watcher.go
@@ -332,6 +332,7 @@ func NewWatcher(parent task.Parent, r types.Route, cfg *types.IdlewatcherConfig)
 
 			w.idleTicker.Stop()
 			w.healthTicker.Stop()
+			w.setReady()
 			close(w.readyNotifyCh)
 			w.task.Finish(cause)
 		}()