diff --git a/src/storage-client/src/source/persist_source.rs b/src/storage-client/src/source/persist_source.rs
index 87a06cf2ebf7..35cc020b0ec9 100644
--- a/src/storage-client/src/source/persist_source.rs
+++ b/src/storage-client/src/source/persist_source.rs
@@ -355,19 +355,11 @@ where
         let mut buffer = Vec::new();
 
         while let Some(event) = fetcher_input.next().await {
-            // Re-acquire the output handle on each invocation and drop it
-            // when we're done.
-            let mut output_handle = update_output.activate();
-            let mut consumed_part_output_handle = consumed_part_output.activate();
-
             if let Event::Data(cap, data) = event {
                 // `LeasedBatchPart`es cannot be dropped at this point w/o
                 // panicking, so swap them to an owned version.
                 data.swap(&mut buffer);
 
-                let mut update_session = output_handle.session(&cap);
-                let mut consumed_part_session = consumed_part_output_handle.session(&cap);
-
                 for (_idx, part) in buffer.drain(..) {
                     let (consumed_part, fetched_part) = fetcher
                         .fetch_leased_part(fetcher.leased_part_from_exchangeable(part))
@@ -433,7 +425,19 @@ where
                             // we don't get to consolidate everything, but that's part of the
                             // tradeoff in tuning yield_fn.
                             differential_dataflow::consolidation::consolidate_updates(&mut updates);
-                            update_session.give_vec(&mut updates);
+
+                            {
+                                // Do very fine-grained output activation/session
+                                // creation to ensure that we don't hold activated
+                                // outputs or sessions across await points, which
+                                // would prevent messages from being flushed from
+                                // the shared timely output buffer.
+                                let mut output_handle = update_output.activate();
+                                let mut update_session = output_handle.session(&cap);
+
+                                update_session.give_vec(&mut updates);
+                            }
+
                             // Force a yield to give back the timely thread, reactivating on our
                             // way out.
                             tokio::task::yield_now().await;
@@ -441,7 +445,23 @@ where
                         }
                     }
                     differential_dataflow::consolidation::consolidate_updates(&mut updates);
+
+                    // Do very fine-grained output activation/session creation
+                    // to ensure that we don't hold activated outputs or
+                    // sessions across await points, which would prevent
+                    // messages from being flushed from the shared timely output
+                    // buffer.
+                    let mut output_handle = update_output.activate();
+                    let mut update_session = output_handle.session(&cap);
                     update_session.give_vec(&mut updates);
+
+                    // Do very fine-grained output activation/session creation
+                    // to ensure that we don't hold activated outputs or
+                    // sessions across await points, which would prevent
+                    // messages from being flushed from the shared timely output
+                    // buffer.
+                    let mut consumed_part_output_handle = consumed_part_output.activate();
+                    let mut consumed_part_session = consumed_part_output_handle.session(&cap);
                     consumed_part_session.give(consumed_part.into_exchangeable_part());
                 }
             }