diff --git a/src-tauri/src/commands/live.rs b/src-tauri/src/commands/live.rs
index 19bcfaa..df33c7a 100644
--- a/src-tauri/src/commands/live.rs
+++ b/src-tauri/src/commands/live.rs
@@ -702,13 +702,19 @@ pub async fn start_live_transcription_session(
     status_channel: Channel<LiveStatusMessage>,
 ) -> Result<StartLiveTranscriptionResponse, String> {
     ensure_main_window(&window)?;
-    // Phase 1: acquire the lifecycle lock long enough to reserve the
-    // single live-session slot. Held across `ensure_model_loaded`
-    // because we want start/stop concurrency to remain serialised; the
-    // dangerous pattern (lock held across a JoinHandle.await) was on
-    // the stop path, not here. Released explicitly before the
-    // RunningLiveSession is installed in `live_state.running` so the
-    // symmetric stop path doesn't observe a half-initialised state.
+    // Phase 1: acquire the lifecycle lock and hold it across the full
+    // startup sequence — model load, audio-path resolution, worker
+    // spawn, AND installation of the RunningLiveSession in
+    // `live_state.running`. The lock is released by the explicit drop
+    // in Phase 2 (see comment near the bottom of this function).
+    //
+    // Holding through the install is intentional: a concurrent
+    // `stop_live_transcription_session` acquiring lifecycle MUST
+    // observe either a fully-installed `running` slot or none at all,
+    // never a half-initialised state. The dangerous pattern of holding
+    // the lock across a `JoinHandle.await` is on the stop path, not
+    // here — start hands the handle off to RunningLiveSession and
+    // never awaits it from inside this function.
     let lifecycle = live_state.lifecycle.lock().await;
     {
         let running = live_state.running.lock().unwrap();