diff --git a/docker/job-started-hook.sh b/docker/job-started-hook.sh
index 8b7d8bc..d124126 100644
--- a/docker/job-started-hook.sh
+++ b/docker/job-started-hook.sh
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@ assignment_max_attempts=${CF_RUNNER_CACHE_ASSIGNMENT_MAX_ATTEMPTS:-30}
 case "$assignment_max_attempts" in
   ''|*[!0-9]*) assignment_max_attempts=30 ;;
 esac
+while [ "${assignment_max_attempts#0}" != "$assignment_max_attempts" ]; do
+  assignment_max_attempts=${assignment_max_attempts#0}
+done
+if [ -z "$assignment_max_attempts" ]; then
+  assignment_max_attempts=0
+fi
 if [ "$assignment_max_attempts" -lt 1 ]; then
   assignment_max_attempts=30
 fi
@@ -36,9 +42,23 @@ case "$assignment_poll_seconds" in
   *.*.*|.*) assignment_poll_seconds=1 ;;
 esac
 
+status=000
+assignment_deadline_epoch=$(($(date +%s) + assignment_max_attempts))
 attempt=1
 while [ "$attempt" -le "$assignment_max_attempts" ]; do
-  status=$(curl --silent --output /dev/null --write-out '%{http_code}' --max-time 5 \
+  remaining_seconds=$((assignment_deadline_epoch - $(date +%s)))
+  if [ "$remaining_seconds" -le 0 ]; then
+    if [ "$attempt" -eq 1 ]; then
+      remaining_seconds=1
+    else
+      break
+    fi
+  fi
+  request_timeout_seconds=5
+  if [ "$remaining_seconds" -lt "$request_timeout_seconds" ]; then
+    request_timeout_seconds=$remaining_seconds
+  fi
+  status=$(curl --silent --output /dev/null --write-out '%{http_code}' --max-time "$request_timeout_seconds" \
     --header "Authorization: $cache_authorization" "$assignment_endpoint" || true)
   if [ "$status" = '200' ]; then
     exit 0
@@ -50,14 +70,20 @@ while [ "$attempt" -le "$assignment_max_attempts" ]; do
     # poll before its authorization is visible and see 401. 000 is curl's
     # output for a connection failure. Keep polling inside the existing
     # bounded window instead of failing the job on the first sample.
-    000|401|408|429|500|502|503|504) ;;
+    000|401|408|429|5??) ;;
     *)
       printf '%s\n' "::error title=Cloudflare runner cache assignment::The Worker returned HTTP $status while waiting for GitHub's runner assignment."
       exit 1
       ;;
   esac
   attempt=$((attempt + 1))
-  sleep "$assignment_poll_seconds"
+  remaining_seconds=$((assignment_deadline_epoch - $(date +%s)))
+  if [ "$remaining_seconds" -le 0 ]; then
+    break
+  fi
+  sleep_seconds=$(awk -v poll="$assignment_poll_seconds" -v remaining="$remaining_seconds" \
+    'BEGIN { print (poll < remaining ? poll : remaining) }')
+  sleep "$sleep_seconds"
 done
 
 # Still fail closed. The job must not run with a cache capability whose
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e846a13..646e52a 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "cloudflare-github-actions-runner",
-  "version": "1.0.9",
+  "version": "1.0.10",
   "description": "Run GitHub Actions jobs as disposable Cloudflare Containers.",
   "keywords": [
     "ci",
diff --git a/tests/job-started-hook.test.ts b/tests/job-started-hook.test.ts
index 863634f..78b6407 100644
--- a/tests/job-started-hook.test.ts
+++ b/tests/job-started-hook.test.ts
@@ -152,6 +152,97 @@ describe("runner cache assignment hook", () => {
     }
   });
 
+  it("keeps polling through a transient Cloudflare edge failure", async () => {
+    let attempts = 0;
+    const server = createServer((_request, response) => {
+      attempts += 1;
+      response.writeHead(attempts === 1 ? 522 : 200).end();
+    });
+    const port = await listen(server);
+    const directory = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), "runner-job-hook-test-"));
+    const configurationPath = join(directory, "cache-assignment");
+    await writeFile(configurationPath, `http://127.0.0.1:${port}/v1/runner-cache\nBearer runner-capability\n`, {
+      mode: 0o600,
+    });
+
+    try {
+      await expect(
+        runHook(configurationPath, {
+          CF_RUNNER_CACHE_ASSIGNMENT_MAX_ATTEMPTS: "3",
+          CF_RUNNER_CACHE_ASSIGNMENT_POLL_SECONDS: "0",
+        }),
+      ).resolves.toEqual({ code: 0, stdout: "", stderr: "" });
+      expect(attempts).toBe(2);
+      await expect(readFile(configurationPath)).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: "ENOENT" });
+    } finally {
+      await close(server);
+      await rm(directory, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("bounds a hanging connection by the configured wait window", async () => {
+    let attempts = 0;
+    const server = createServer(() => {
+      attempts += 1;
+    });
+    const port = await listen(server);
+    const directory = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), "runner-job-hook-test-"));
+    const configurationPath = join(directory, "cache-assignment");
+    await writeFile(configurationPath, `http://127.0.0.1:${port}/v1/runner-cache\nBearer runner-capability\n`, {
+      mode: 0o600,
+    });
+
+    try {
+      const startedAt = Date.now();
+      await expect(
+        runHook(configurationPath, {
+          CF_RUNNER_CACHE_ASSIGNMENT_MAX_ATTEMPTS: "1",
+          CF_RUNNER_CACHE_ASSIGNMENT_POLL_SECONDS: "0",
+        }),
+      ).resolves.toEqual({
+        code: 1,
+        stdout:
+          "::error title=Cloudflare runner cache assignment::GitHub's runner assignment was not observed within 1 seconds (last Worker status: 000).\n",
+        stderr: "",
+      });
+      expect(Date.now() - startedAt).toBeLessThan(3_000);
+      expect(attempts).toBe(1);
+      await expect(readFile(configurationPath)).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: "ENOENT" });
+    } finally {
+      server.closeAllConnections();
+      await close(server);
+      await rm(directory, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  }, 10_000);
+
+  it("normalizes a leading-zero attempt count before deadline arithmetic", async () => {
+    let attempts = 0;
+    const server = createServer((_request, response) => {
+      attempts += 1;
+      response.writeHead(200).end();
+    });
+    const port = await listen(server);
+    const directory = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), "runner-job-hook-test-"));
+    const configurationPath = join(directory, "cache-assignment");
+    await writeFile(configurationPath, `http://127.0.0.1:${port}/v1/runner-cache\nBearer runner-capability\n`, {
+      mode: 0o600,
+    });
+
+    try {
+      await expect(
+        runHook(configurationPath, {
+          CF_RUNNER_CACHE_ASSIGNMENT_MAX_ATTEMPTS: "08",
+          CF_RUNNER_CACHE_ASSIGNMENT_POLL_SECONDS: "0",
+        }),
+      ).resolves.toEqual({ code: 0, stdout: "", stderr: "" });
+      expect(attempts).toBe(1);
+      await expect(readFile(configurationPath)).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: "ENOENT" });
+    } finally {
+      await close(server);
+      await rm(directory, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
   it("still fails closed when the authorization never becomes visible", async () => {
     const server = createServer((_request, response) => response.writeHead(401).end());
     const port = await listen(server);