diff --git a/packages/lexical-playground/__tests__/e2e/CopyAndPaste/html/LinksHTMLCopyAndPaste.spec.mjs b/packages/lexical-playground/__tests__/e2e/CopyAndPaste/html/LinksHTMLCopyAndPaste.spec.mjs
index a53ae3d6a55..8179af57cb4 100644
--- a/packages/lexical-playground/__tests__/e2e/CopyAndPaste/html/LinksHTMLCopyAndPaste.spec.mjs
+++ b/packages/lexical-playground/__tests__/e2e/CopyAndPaste/html/LinksHTMLCopyAndPaste.spec.mjs
@@ -21,9 +21,11 @@ import {
   assertSelection,
   click,
   copyToClipboard,
+  expect,
   focusEditor,
   html,
   initialize,
+  locate,
   pasteFromClipboard,
   test,
 } from '../../../utils/index.mjs';
@@ -77,6 +79,7 @@ test.describe('HTML Links CopyAndPaste', () => {
     );
 
     await click(page, '.link');
+    await expect(locate(page, '.link-input')).toBeFocused();
     await page.keyboard.type('facebook.com');
     await click(page, '.link-confirm');
 
diff --git a/packages/lexical-playground/__tests__/e2e/Toolbar.spec.mjs b/packages/lexical-playground/__tests__/e2e/Toolbar.spec.mjs
index 637b4a8ba30..134672ff3c8 100644
--- a/packages/lexical-playground/__tests__/e2e/Toolbar.spec.mjs
+++ b/packages/lexical-playground/__tests__/e2e/Toolbar.spec.mjs
@@ -40,6 +40,28 @@ test.describe('Toolbar', () => {
 
     // Add caption
     await insertSampleImage(page);
+    // Catch flakiness earlier
+    await assertHTML(
+      page,
+      html`
+        <p>
+          <span contenteditable="false" data-lexical-decorator="true">
+            <div draggable="false">
+              <img
+                alt="Yellow flower in tilt shift lens"
+                draggable="false"
+                src="${SAMPLE_IMAGE_URL}" />
+            </div>
+          </span>
+          <br />
+        </p>
+      `,
+      undefined,
+      {
+        ignoreClasses: true,
+        ignoreInlineStyles: true,
+      },
+    );
     await click(page, '.editor-image img');
     await click(page, '.image-caption-button');
     await focus(page, '.ImageNode__contentEditable');
diff --git a/packages/lexical-playground/__tests__/utils/index.mjs b/packages/lexical-playground/__tests__/utils/index.mjs
index 213f7b18508..f5f21a28bdf 100644
--- a/packages/lexical-playground/__tests__/utils/index.mjs
+++ b/packages/lexical-playground/__tests__/utils/index.mjs
@@ -120,6 +120,13 @@ async function exposeLexicalEditor(page) {
         ).toBeVisible();
       }),
     );
+    // Ensure that they started up with the correct empty state
+    await assertHTML(
+      page,
+      html`
+        <p class="PlaygroundEditorTheme__paragraph"><br /></p>
+      `,
+    );
   }
   const leftFrame = getPageOrFrame(page);
   await leftFrame.waitForSelector('.tree-view-output pre');