diff --git a/Source/Async/AuGroupWorkQueue.cpp b/Source/Async/AuGroupWorkQueue.cpp
index 8c816f4e..e578fb9b 100644
--- a/Source/Async/AuGroupWorkQueue.cpp
+++ b/Source/Async/AuGroupWorkQueue.cpp
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ namespace Aurora::Async
     #endif
     }
 
-    void GroupWorkQueue::Dequeue(AuListOfHeap<WorkEntry_t> &queue,
+    bool GroupWorkQueue::Dequeue(AuListOfHeap<WorkEntry_t> &queue,
                                  AuUInt uMaxPopCount,
                                  AuAsync::ThreadId_t id)
     {
@@ -82,7 +82,10 @@ namespace Aurora::Async
                 if ((!uAnyCount) &&
                     (itr->first == Async::kThreadIdAny))
                 {
-                    queue.push_back(*itr);
+                    if (!AuTryInsert(queue, *itr))
+                    {
+                        return false;
+                    }
                     itr = group.erase(itr);
                     uAnyCount++;
                     continue;
@@ -91,7 +94,10 @@ namespace Aurora::Async
                 if ((itr->first != Async::kThreadIdAny) &&
                     (itr->first == id))
                 {
-                    queue.push_back(*itr);
+                    if (!AuTryInsert(queue, *itr))
+                    {
+                        return false;
+                    }
                     itr = group.erase(itr);
                     continue;
                 }
@@ -104,6 +110,7 @@ namespace Aurora::Async
                 break;
             }
         }
-    }
 
+        return true;
+    }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Source/Async/AuGroupWorkQueue.hpp b/Source/Async/AuGroupWorkQueue.hpp
index 37db3c13..663e11dc 100644
--- a/Source/Async/AuGroupWorkQueue.hpp
+++ b/Source/Async/AuGroupWorkQueue.hpp
@@ -26,6 +26,6 @@ namespace Aurora::Async
 
         void AddWorkEntry(WorkEntry_t entry);
 
-        void Dequeue(AuListOfHeap<WorkEntry_t> &queue, AuUInt uMaxPopCount, AuAsync::ThreadId_t idd);
+        bool Dequeue(AuListOfHeap<WorkEntry_t> &queue, AuUInt uMaxPopCount, AuAsync::ThreadId_t idd);
     };
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Source/Async/AuThreadState.cpp b/Source/Async/AuThreadState.cpp
index 14cbfe6d..ebeaee42 100644
--- a/Source/Async/AuThreadState.cpp
+++ b/Source/Async/AuThreadState.cpp
@@ -104,9 +104,12 @@ namespace Aurora::Async
     
     void ThreadStateSync::UpdateCVState(ThreadState *pState)
     {
-        auto uState = pState->sync.cvHasWork;
+        auto uState = AuAtomicLoad(&pState->sync.cvHasWork);
         auto uMin = AuMin(uState, pState->pendingWorkItems.size());
-        if (!uMin) uMin = 1;
+        if (!uMin)
+        {
+            uMin = 1;
+        }
 
         while (uState &&
                 AuAtomicCompareExchange<AuUInt32>(&pState->sync.cvHasWork, uState - uMin, uState) != uState)
diff --git a/Source/Async/AuThreadState.hpp b/Source/Async/AuThreadState.hpp
index b8e5b2a1..6a39ffdb 100644
--- a/Source/Async/AuThreadState.hpp
+++ b/Source/Async/AuThreadState.hpp
@@ -47,11 +47,14 @@ namespace Aurora::Async
 
     struct ThreadStateStack
     {
-        AuUInt32 uStackCookie {};
-        AuUInt32 uStackMaxRecursiveAsyncPromiseCalls { 4 };
-        AuUInt32 uStackCallDepth {};
-        AuUInt32 uStackMaxCookie { 5 };
-        AuUInt8  uWorkMultipopCount { 32 };
+        // Do not optimize away recursive self variables!
+        // Always evaluate!
+        // No multithread memory model awareness is required; we just need volatile.
+        volatile AuUInt32 uStackCookie {};
+        volatile AuUInt32 uStackMaxRecursiveAsyncPromiseCalls { 4 };
+        volatile AuUInt32 uStackCallDepth {};
+        volatile AuUInt32 uStackMaxCookie { 5 };
+        volatile AuUInt8  uWorkMultipopCount { 32 };
     };
 
     struct ThreadStateFeatureCallbacks
diff --git a/Source/Async/ThreadPool.cpp b/Source/Async/ThreadPool.cpp
index ab98770a..798057c9 100644
--- a/Source/Async/ThreadPool.cpp
+++ b/Source/Async/ThreadPool.cpp
@@ -386,9 +386,9 @@ namespace Aurora::Async
 
             do
             {
-                group->workQueue.Dequeue(state->pendingWorkItems,
-                                         state->stackState.uWorkMultipopCount,
-                                         state->thread.id.second);
+                bool bFailedOOM = group->workQueue.Dequeue(state->pendingWorkItems,
+                                                           state->stackState.uWorkMultipopCount,
+                                                           state->thread.id.second);
 
                 state->sync.UpdateCVState(state.get());
 
@@ -398,6 +398,21 @@ namespace Aurora::Async
                     break;
                 }
 
+                // OOM: hardened: sleep for 0.01MS if the heap for task dequeue is full.
+                // Until the mixed heap object is implemented, we can only dequeue 2^16 tasks globally at a time into a reserved heap.
+                if (!bFailedOOM)
+                {
+                    if (state->pendingWorkItems.empty())
+                    {
+                        AuThreading::SleepNs(10'000);
+                        continue;
+                    }
+                    else
+                    {
+                        break;
+                    }
+                }
+
                 // Block if no work items are present
                 if (state->pendingWorkItems.empty())
                 {
@@ -412,7 +427,11 @@ namespace Aurora::Async
                         break;
                     }
 
-                    state->sync.cvVariable->WaitForSignal();
+                    // OOM: hardened: do not sleep after OOM re-try
+                    if (group->workQueue.IsEmpty(this, state->thread.id))
+                    {
+                        state->sync.cvVariable->WaitForSignal();
+                    }
 
                     if (AuAtomicLoad(&this->shuttingdown_) & 2)
                     {
@@ -1047,7 +1066,7 @@ namespace Aurora::Async
                     return false;
                 }
             
-                if (pThat->uAtomicCounter)
+                if (AuAtomicLoad(&pThat->uAtomicCounter))
                 {
                     return false;
                 }
@@ -1095,7 +1114,7 @@ namespace Aurora::Async
 
         auto pA = this->GetThreadStateNoWarn();
 
-        if (this->shuttingdown_ & 2) // fast 
+        if (AuAtomicLoad(&this->shuttingdown_) & 2) // fast 
         {
             if (pA->shutdown.bDropSubmissions)
             {
diff --git a/Source/Async/ThreadPool.hpp b/Source/Async/ThreadPool.hpp
index cd6291a3..dc42b445 100644
--- a/Source/Async/ThreadPool.hpp
+++ b/Source/Async/ThreadPool.hpp
@@ -161,6 +161,7 @@ namespace Aurora::Async
         AuList<AuWPtr<ThreadPool>> listWeakDeps_;
         AuList<AuWPtr<ThreadPool>> listWeakDepsParents_;
 
+        // TODO: fallback heap
         AuMemory::AllocHeapUnique_t pHeap { AuMemory::AllocHeapUnique(512 * 1024) };
 
         friend struct KeepGroupAlive;