diff --git a/frontend/tests/e2e/project/project-history.spec.ts b/frontend/tests/e2e/project/project-history.spec.ts
index 77191cead..51a4caa5c 100644
--- a/frontend/tests/e2e/project/project-history.spec.ts
+++ b/frontend/tests/e2e/project/project-history.spec.ts
@@ -76,11 +76,17 @@ test.describe('Project History', () => {
 			}, false)
 		}
 
+		// Navigate to home first so the default-page redirect guard is primed
+		// (sets sessionStorage flag), preventing later page.goto('/') from
+		// redirecting to the last visited project.
+		await page.goto('/')
+		await page.waitForLoadState('networkidle')
+
 		// Visit projects to build up history
 		await visitProjectsToBuildHistory(page, projects)
 
 		// Go to overview and verify section is visible
-		await page.goto('/')
+		await page.locator('nav.menu.top-menu a').filter({hasText: 'Overview'}).click()
 		await expect(page.locator('body')).toContainText('Last viewed')
 
 		// Disable the setting via API
@@ -91,12 +97,9 @@ test.describe('Project History', () => {
 			},
 		})
 
-		// Reload and wait for the user settings to be fetched before asserting
-		const userResponsePromise = page.waitForResponse(resp =>
-			resp.url().includes('/api/v1/user') && resp.request().method() === 'GET' && resp.status() === 200,
-		)
+		// Reload and verify section is hidden
 		await page.reload()
-		await userResponsePromise
+		await page.waitForLoadState('networkidle')
 		await expect(page.locator('body')).not.toContainText('Last viewed')
 	})
 
@@ -127,11 +130,8 @@ test.describe('Project History', () => {
 		await visitProjectsToBuildHistory(page, projects)
 
 		// Verify section is hidden
-		const hiddenResponsePromise = page.waitForResponse(resp =>
-			resp.url().includes('/api/v1/user') && resp.request().method() === 'GET' && resp.status() === 200,
-		)
 		await page.goto('/')
-		await hiddenResponsePromise
+		await page.waitForLoadState('networkidle')
 		await expect(page.locator('body')).not.toContainText('Last viewed')
 
 		// Re-enable the setting
@@ -141,12 +141,9 @@ test.describe('Project History', () => {
 			},
 		})
 
-		// Reload and wait for the user settings to be fetched before asserting
-		const visibleResponsePromise = page.waitForResponse(resp =>
-			resp.url().includes('/api/v1/user') && resp.request().method() === 'GET' && resp.status() === 200,
-		)
+		// Reload and verify section is visible again
 		await page.reload()
-		await visibleResponsePromise
+		await page.waitForLoadState('networkidle')
 		await expect(page.locator('body')).toContainText('Last viewed')
 	})
 })