diff --git a/roomserver/internal/input/input.go b/roomserver/internal/input/input.go
index 4d6da229..61f46cb2 100644
--- a/roomserver/internal/input/input.go
+++ b/roomserver/internal/input/input.go
@@ -44,8 +44,7 @@ type Inputer struct {
 type inputTask struct {
 	ctx   context.Context
 	event *api.InputRoomEvent
-	wg    *sync.WaitGroup
-	err   error // written back by worker, only safe to read when all tasks are done
+	err   chan error
 }
 
 type inputWorker struct {
@@ -70,13 +69,13 @@ func (w *inputWorker) start() {
 			default:
 			}
 			hooks.Run(hooks.KindNewEventReceived, task.event.Event)
-			_, task.err = w.r.processRoomEvent(task.ctx, task.event)
-			if task.err == nil {
+			_, err := w.r.processRoomEvent(task.ctx, task.event)
+			if err == nil {
 				hooks.Run(hooks.KindNewEventPersisted, task.event.Event)
 			} else {
-				sentry.CaptureException(task.err)
+				sentry.CaptureException(err)
 			}
-			task.wg.Done()
+			task.err <- err
 		case <-time.After(time.Second * 5):
 			return
 		}
@@ -134,9 +133,11 @@ func (r *Inputer) InputRoomEvents(
 	// Create a wait group. Each task that we dispatch will call Done on
 	// this wait group so that we know when all of our events have been
 	// processed.
-	wg := &sync.WaitGroup{}
-	wg.Add(len(request.InputRoomEvents))
-	tasks := make([]*inputTask, len(request.InputRoomEvents))
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(ctx)
+	defer cancel()
+	count := len(request.InputRoomEvents)
+	wait := make(chan error, count)
+	tasks := make([]*inputTask, count)
 
 	for i, e := range request.InputRoomEvents {
 		// Work out if we are running per-room workers or if we're just doing
@@ -161,7 +162,7 @@ func (r *Inputer) InputRoomEvents(
 		tasks[i] = &inputTask{
 			ctx:   ctx,
 			event: &request.InputRoomEvents[i],
-			wg:    wg,
+			err:   wait,
 		}
 
 		// Send the task to the worker.
@@ -171,15 +172,23 @@ func (r *Inputer) InputRoomEvents(
 		worker.input.push(tasks[i])
 	}
 
-	// Wait for all of the workers to return results about our tasks.
-	wg.Wait()
+	// Wait for the request context to close and then
+	go func() {
+		<-ctx.Done()
+		close(wait)
+	}()
 
+	// Wait for all of the workers to return results about our tasks.
 	// If any of the tasks returned an error, we should probably report
 	// that back to the caller.
-	for _, task := range tasks {
-		if task.err != nil {
-			response.ErrMsg = task.err.Error()
-			_, rejected := task.err.(*gomatrixserverlib.NotAllowed)
+	for err := range wait {
+		count--
+		if count == 0 {
+			cancel()
+		}
+		if err != nil {
+			response.ErrMsg = err.Error()
+			_, rejected := err.(*gomatrixserverlib.NotAllowed)
 			response.NotAllowed = rejected
 			return
 		}