diff --git a/preview/src/main/scala/laika/preview/ASTPageTransformer.scala b/preview/src/main/scala/laika/preview/ASTPageTransformer.scala
index 6448bcdd7..19dd0c6f5 100644
--- a/preview/src/main/scala/laika/preview/ASTPageTransformer.scala
+++ b/preview/src/main/scala/laika/preview/ASTPageTransformer.scala
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import laika.ast.{
   CodeBlock,
   Document,
   DocumentTreeRoot,
+  Path,
   RewritePhase,
   RootElement,
   Section,
@@ -47,14 +48,16 @@ private[preview] object ASTPageTransformer {
     val description: String           = "AST URL extension for preview server"
     private val outputName            = "ast"
 
+    def translateASTPath(path: Path): Path = {
+      val base = path.withoutFragment / outputName
+      path.fragment.fold(base)(base.withFragment)
+    }
+
     override def extendPathTranslator
         : PartialFunction[ExtensionBundle.PathTranslatorExtensionContext, PathTranslator] = {
       case context =>
         PathTranslator.postTranslate(context.baseTranslator) { path =>
-          if (path.suffix.contains("html")) {
-            val base = path.withoutFragment / outputName
-            path.fragment.fold(base)(base.withFragment)
-          }
+          if (path.suffix.contains("html")) translateASTPath(path)
           else path
         }
     }
diff --git a/preview/src/main/scala/laika/preview/RouteBuilder.scala b/preview/src/main/scala/laika/preview/RouteBuilder.scala
index 4442d0366..eb952bfbb 100644
--- a/preview/src/main/scala/laika/preview/RouteBuilder.scala
+++ b/preview/src/main/scala/laika/preview/RouteBuilder.scala
@@ -17,14 +17,21 @@
 package laika.preview
 
 import java.io.InputStream
-
 import cats.syntax.all._
 import cats.effect.{ Async, Resource, Sync }
 import fs2.concurrent.Topic
 import fs2.io.readInputStream
 import laika.preview.ServerBuilder.Logger
 import org.http4s.dsl.Http4sDsl
-import org.http4s.{ CacheDirective, EntityEncoder, Headers, HttpRoutes, MediaType, ServerSentEvent }
+import org.http4s.{
+  CacheDirective,
+  EntityEncoder,
+  Headers,
+  HttpRoutes,
+  MediaType,
+  Response,
+  ServerSentEvent
+}
 import org.http4s.headers.{ `Cache-Control`, `Content-Type` }
 
 import scala.concurrent.duration.DurationInt
@@ -48,6 +55,25 @@ private[preview] class RouteBuilder[F[_]: Async](
 
   private val noCache = `Cache-Control`(CacheDirective.`no-store`)
 
+  def serve(laikaPath: laika.ast.Path, result: Option[SiteResult[F]]): F[Response[F]] =
+    result match {
+      case Some(RenderedResult(content)) =>
+        logger(s"serving path $laikaPath - transformed markup") *>
+          Ok(content).map(
+            _
+              .withHeaders(noCache)
+              .withContentType(`Content-Type`(MediaType.text.html))
+          )
+      case Some(StaticResult(input))     =>
+        logger(s"serving path $laikaPath - static input") *> {
+          val mediaType = laikaPath.suffix.flatMap(mediaTypeFor).map(`Content-Type`(_))
+          Ok(input).map(_.withHeaders(Headers(mediaType, noCache)))
+        }
+      case Some(LazyResult(res))         => res.flatMap(serve(laikaPath, _))
+      case None                          =>
+        logger(s"serving path $laikaPath - not found") *> NotFound()
+    }
+
   def build: HttpRoutes[F] = HttpRoutes.of[F] {
 
     case GET -> Root / "laika" / "events" =>
@@ -56,22 +82,7 @@ private[preview] class RouteBuilder[F[_]: Async](
 
     case GET -> path =>
       val laikaPath = laika.ast.Path.parse(path.toString)
-      cache.get.map(_.get(laikaPath.withoutFragment)).flatMap {
-        case Some(RenderedResult(content)) =>
-          logger(s"serving path $laikaPath - transformed markup") *>
-            Ok(content).map(
-              _
-                .withHeaders(noCache)
-                .withContentType(`Content-Type`(MediaType.text.html))
-            )
-        case Some(StaticResult(input))     =>
-          logger(s"serving path $laikaPath - static input") *> {
-            val mediaType = laikaPath.suffix.flatMap(mediaTypeFor).map(`Content-Type`(_))
-            Ok(input).map(_.withHeaders(Headers(mediaType, noCache)))
-          }
-        case None                          =>
-          logger(s"serving path $laikaPath - not found") *> NotFound()
-      }
+      cache.get.map(_.get(laikaPath.withoutFragment)).flatMap(serve(laikaPath, _))
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/preview/src/main/scala/laika/preview/SiteTransformer.scala b/preview/src/main/scala/laika/preview/SiteTransformer.scala
index d01efaaf9..341168536 100644
--- a/preview/src/main/scala/laika/preview/SiteTransformer.scala
+++ b/preview/src/main/scala/laika/preview/SiteTransformer.scala
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package laika.preview
 
 import cats.effect.{ Async, Resource }
 import cats.syntax.all._
+import cats.effect.syntax.all._
 import fs2.Chunk
 import laika.api.Renderer
 import laika.api.builder.OperationConfig
@@ -98,13 +99,32 @@ private[preview] class SiteTransformer[F[_]: Async](
       }
   }
 
+  private def transformASTLazily(tree: ParsedTree[F], html: ResultMap[F]): F[ResultMap[F]] = {
+
+    val transformer = for {
+      modifiedRoot <- Async[F].delay(
+        tree.modifyRoot(ASTPageTransformer.transform(_, parser.config))
+      )
+      resultMap    <- transformHTML(modifiedRoot, astRenderer)
+    } yield resultMap
+
+    def buildLazyMap(delegate: F[ResultMap[F]]): ResultMap[F] = {
+      html.keySet
+        .map(ASTPageTransformer.ASTPathTranslator.translateASTPath)
+        .map { astPath =>
+          val result = LazyResult(delegate.map(_.get(astPath)))
+          (astPath, result: SiteResult[F])
+        }
+        .toMap
+    }
+
+    transformer.memoize.map(buildLazyMap)
+  }
+
   val transform: F[SiteResults[F]] = for {
     tree   <- parse
     html   <- transformHTML(tree, htmlRenderer)
-    ast    <- transformHTML(
-      tree.modifyRoot(ASTPageTransformer.transform(_, parser.config)),
-      astRenderer
-    )
+    ast    <- transformASTLazily(tree, html)
     ebooks <- Async[F].fromEither(transformBinaries(tree).leftMap(ConfigException.apply))
   } yield {
     new SiteResults(staticFiles ++ ast ++ html ++ ebooks)
@@ -201,3 +221,6 @@ private[preview] case class RenderedResult[F[_]: Async](content: String) extends
 
 private[preview] case class StaticResult[F[_]: Async](content: fs2.Stream[F, Byte])
     extends SiteResult[F]
+
+private[preview] case class LazyResult[F[_]: Async](result: F[Option[SiteResult[F]]])
+    extends SiteResult[F]