diff --git a/consensus/polybft/polybft.go b/consensus/polybft/polybft.go
index 3d8830f9db..780ca5046a 100644
--- a/consensus/polybft/polybft.go
+++ b/consensus/polybft/polybft.go
@@ -343,6 +343,8 @@ func (p *Polybft) startConsensusProtocol() {
 		return
 	}
 
+	p.logger.Debug("peers connected")
+
 	newBlockSub := p.blockchain.SubscribeEvents()
 	defer newBlockSub.Close()
 
diff --git a/e2e-polybft/e2e/acls_test.go b/e2e-polybft/e2e/acls_test.go
index f6079ceb25..9c8f8575e1 100644
--- a/e2e-polybft/e2e/acls_test.go
+++ b/e2e-polybft/e2e/acls_test.go
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ func TestE2E_AllowList_ContractDeployment(t *testing.T) {
 
 	otherAddr := types.Address{0x1}
 
-	cluster := framework.NewTestCluster(t, 3,
+	cluster := framework.NewTestCluster(t, 5,
 		framework.WithPremine(adminAddr, targetAddr),
 		framework.WithContractDeployerAllowListAdmin(adminAddr),
 		framework.WithContractDeployerAllowListEnabled(otherAddr),
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ func TestE2E_BlockList_ContractDeployment(t *testing.T) {
 
 	otherAddr := types.Address{0x1}
 
-	cluster := framework.NewTestCluster(t, 3,
+	cluster := framework.NewTestCluster(t, 5,
 		framework.WithPremine(adminAddr, targetAddr),
 		framework.WithContractDeployerBlockListAdmin(adminAddr),
 		framework.WithContractDeployerBlockListEnabled(otherAddr),
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ func TestE2E_AllowList_Transactions(t *testing.T) {
 	targetAddr := types.Address(target.Address())
 	otherAddr := types.Address(other.Address())
 
-	cluster := framework.NewTestCluster(t, 3,
+	cluster := framework.NewTestCluster(t, 5,
 		framework.WithPremine(adminAddr, targetAddr, otherAddr),
 		framework.WithTransactionsAllowListAdmin(adminAddr),
 		framework.WithTransactionsAllowListEnabled(otherAddr),
@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ func TestE2E_BlockList_Transactions(t *testing.T) {
 	targetAddr := types.Address(target.Address())
 	otherAddr := types.Address(other.Address())
 
-	cluster := framework.NewTestCluster(t, 3,
+	cluster := framework.NewTestCluster(t, 5,
 		framework.WithPremine(adminAddr, targetAddr, otherAddr),
 		framework.WithTransactionsBlockListAdmin(adminAddr),
 		framework.WithTransactionsBlockListEnabled(otherAddr),
@@ -376,7 +376,7 @@ func TestE2E_AddressLists_Bridge(t *testing.T) {
 	targetAddr := types.Address(target.Address())
 	otherAddr := types.Address(other.Address())
 
-	cluster := framework.NewTestCluster(t, 3,
+	cluster := framework.NewTestCluster(t, 5,
 		framework.WithPremine(adminAddr, targetAddr, otherAddr),
 		framework.WithBridgeAllowListAdmin(adminAddr),
 		framework.WithBridgeAllowListEnabled(otherAddr),
diff --git a/e2e-polybft/framework/test-cluster.go b/e2e-polybft/framework/test-cluster.go
index 7ab24d1b38..d6be366a22 100644
--- a/e2e-polybft/framework/test-cluster.go
+++ b/e2e-polybft/framework/test-cluster.go
@@ -684,7 +684,7 @@ func (c *TestCluster) WaitUntil(timeout, pollFrequency time.Duration, handler fu
 func (c *TestCluster) WaitForReady(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Helper()
 
-	require.NoError(t, c.WaitForBlock(1, 30*time.Second))
+	require.NoError(t, c.WaitForBlock(1, time.Minute))
 }
 
 func (c *TestCluster) WaitForBlock(n uint64, timeout time.Duration) error {
diff --git a/e2e-polybft/property/property_test.go b/e2e-polybft/property/property_test.go
index 46b95a379e..bd0ec2c041 100644
--- a/e2e-polybft/property/property_test.go
+++ b/e2e-polybft/property/property_test.go
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ func TestProperty_DifferentVotingPower(t *testing.T) {
 
 	rapid.Check(t, func(tt *rapid.T) {
 		var (
-			numNodes  = rapid.Uint64Range(4, 8).Draw(tt, "number of cluster nodes")
+			numNodes  = rapid.Uint64Range(5, 8).Draw(tt, "number of cluster nodes")
 			epochSize = rapid.OneOf(rapid.Just(4), rapid.Just(10)).Draw(tt, "epoch size")
 			numBlocks = rapid.Uint64Range(2, 5).Draw(tt, "number of blocks the cluster should mine")
 		)
diff --git a/network/server.go b/network/server.go
index 4b68d32351..b6be58f3a4 100644
--- a/network/server.go
+++ b/network/server.go
@@ -400,7 +400,7 @@ func (s *Server) runDial() {
 		//nolint:godox
 		// TODO: Right now the dial task are done sequentially because Connect
 		// is a blocking request. In the future we should try to make up to
-		// maxDials requests concurrently (to be fixed in EVM-541)
+		// maxDials requests concurrently (to be fixed in EVM-543)
 		for s.connectionCounts.HasFreeOutboundConn() {
 			tt := s.dialQueue.PopTask()
 			if tt == nil {