diff --git a/Test/DurableTask.ServiceBus.Tests/ServiceBusUtilsTests.cs b/Test/DurableTask.ServiceBus.Tests/ServiceBusUtilsTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..500110338
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Test/DurableTask.ServiceBus.Tests/ServiceBusUtilsTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+//  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+//  Copyright Microsoft Corporation
+//  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+//  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+//  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+//  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+//  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+//  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+//  limitations under the License.
+//  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+namespace DurableTask.ServiceBus.Tests
+{
+    using System;
+    using System.IO;
+    using System.Threading.Tasks;
+    using DurableTask.Core;
+    using DurableTask.Core.Common;
+    using DurableTask.Core.Settings;
+    using DurableTask.Core.Tracking;
+    using DurableTask.ServiceBus.Common.Abstraction;
+    using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
+
+    [TestClass]
+    public class ServiceBusUtilsTests
+    {
+        const string Payload = "inline message payload";
+
+        [TestMethod]
+        public Task UncompressedInlineMessageDeserializationCompletesSynchronously()
+        {
+            return AssertInlineMessageRoundTrips(CompressionStyle.Never, expectSynchronousCompletion: true);
+        }
+
+        [TestMethod]
+        public Task CompressedInlineMessageDeserializationRoundTrips()
+        {
+            return AssertInlineMessageRoundTrips(CompressionStyle.Always, expectSynchronousCompletion: false);
+        }
+
+        [TestMethod]
+        public async Task ExternalMessageDeserializationAwaitsBlobStore()
+        {
+            const string blobKey = "message-blob";
+            var message = new Message();
+            message.UserProperties[ServiceBusConstants.MessageBlobKey] = blobKey;
+            message.UserProperties[FrameworkConstants.CompressionTypePropertyName] =
+                FrameworkConstants.CompressionTypeNonePropertyValue;
+
+            var stream = new MemoryStream();
+            Utils.WriteObjectToStream(stream, Payload);
+            stream.Position = stream.Length;
+
+            var blobStore = new DeferredBlobStore();
+            Task<string> deserializationTask =
+                ServiceBusUtils.GetObjectFromBrokeredMessageAsync<string>(message, blobStore);
+
+            Assert.AreEqual(blobKey, blobStore.LoadedBlobKey);
+            Assert.IsFalse(deserializationTask.IsCompleted);
+
+            blobStore.CompleteLoad(stream);
+
+            Assert.AreEqual(Payload, await deserializationTask);
+            Assert.ThrowsException<ObjectDisposedException>(() => stream.ReadByte());
+        }
+
+        static async Task AssertInlineMessageRoundTrips(
+            CompressionStyle compressionStyle,
+            bool expectSynchronousCompletion)
+        {
+            Message message = await ServiceBusUtils.GetBrokeredMessageFromObjectAsync(
+                Payload,
+                new CompressionSettings { Style = compressionStyle });
+
+            Task<string> deserializationTask =
+                ServiceBusUtils.GetObjectFromBrokeredMessageAsync<string>(message, null);
+
+            if (expectSynchronousCompletion)
+            {
+                Assert.IsTrue(
+                    deserializationTask.IsCompleted,
+                    "Inline message deserialization should not require a thread-pool continuation.");
+            }
+
+            Assert.AreEqual(Payload, await deserializationTask);
+        }
+
+        sealed class DeferredBlobStore : IOrchestrationServiceBlobStore
+        {
+            readonly TaskCompletionSource<Stream> loadCompletionSource = new TaskCompletionSource<Stream>();
+
+            public string LoadedBlobKey { get; private set; }
+
+            public string BuildMessageBlobKey(OrchestrationInstance orchestrationInstance, DateTime messageFireTime)
+            {
+                throw new NotSupportedException();
+            }
+
+            public string BuildSessionBlobKey(string sessionId)
+            {
+                throw new NotSupportedException();
+            }
+
+            public Task SaveStreamAsync(string blobKey, Stream stream)
+            {
+                throw new NotSupportedException();
+            }
+
+            public Task<Stream> LoadStreamAsync(string blobKey)
+            {
+                this.LoadedBlobKey = blobKey;
+                return this.loadCompletionSource.Task;
+            }
+
+            public Task DeleteStoreAsync()
+            {
+                throw new NotSupportedException();
+            }
+
+            public Task PurgeExpiredBlobsAsync(DateTime thresholdDateTimeUtc)
+            {
+                throw new NotSupportedException();
+            }
+
+            public void CompleteLoad(Stream stream)
+            {
+                this.loadCompletionSource.SetResult(stream);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/DurableTask.ServiceBus/Common/ServiceBusUtils.cs b/src/DurableTask.ServiceBus/Common/ServiceBusUtils.cs
index cc9472a1a..861b16852 100644
--- a/src/DurableTask.ServiceBus/Common/ServiceBusUtils.cs
+++ b/src/DurableTask.ServiceBus/Common/ServiceBusUtils.cs
@@ -301,9 +301,9 @@ static Task<Stream> LoadMessageStreamAsync(Message message, IOrchestrationServic
                 // load the stream from the message directly if the blob key property is not set,
                 // i.e., it is not stored externally
 #if NETSTANDARD2_0
-                return Task.Run(() => new System.IO.MemoryStream(message.Body) as Stream);
+                return Task.FromResult<Stream>(new MemoryStream(message.Body));
 #else
-                return Task.Run(() => message.GetBody<Stream>());
+                return Task.FromResult(message.GetBody<Stream>());
 #endif
             }