diff --git a/code/core/src/component-testing/components/Panel.tsx b/code/core/src/component-testing/components/Panel.tsx
index 977c37ea3c63..3ac770251dee 100644
--- a/code/core/src/component-testing/components/Panel.tsx
+++ b/code/core/src/component-testing/components/Panel.tsx
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ const playStatusMap: Record<
   aborted: 'aborted',
 };
 
+const terminalStatuses: PlayStatus[] = ['completed', 'errored', 'aborted'];
+
 const storyStatusMap: Record<CallStates, StatusValue> = {
   [CallStates.DONE]: 'status-value:success',
   [CallStates.ERROR]: 'status-value:error',
@@ -293,7 +295,7 @@ export const Panel = memo<{ refId?: string; storyId: string; storyUrl: string }>
           } else {
             set((state) => {
               const status =
-                event.newPhase in playStatusMap
+                event.newPhase in playStatusMap && !terminalStatuses.includes(state.status)
                   ? playStatusMap[event.newPhase as keyof typeof playStatusMap]
                   : state.status;
               return getPanelState(
diff --git a/code/core/src/component-testing/components/StatusBadge.tsx b/code/core/src/component-testing/components/StatusBadge.tsx
index 8d94c1eabece..23a3b26d13a1 100644
--- a/code/core/src/component-testing/components/StatusBadge.tsx
+++ b/code/core/src/component-testing/components/StatusBadge.tsx
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ import React from 'react';
 
 import { type Color, styled, typography } from 'storybook/theming';
 
+import { TooltipNote, WithTooltip } from '../../components';
+
 export type PlayStatus = 'rendering' | 'playing' | 'completed' | 'errored' | 'aborted';
 
 export interface StatusBadgeProps {
@@ -24,6 +26,14 @@ const StatusTextMapping: Record<PlayStatus, string> = {
   aborted: 'Bail',
 } as const;
 
+const StatusNoteMapping: Record<PlayStatus, string> = {
+  rendering: 'Story is rendering',
+  playing: 'Interactions are running',
+  completed: 'Story ran successfully',
+  errored: 'Story failed to complete',
+  aborted: 'Interactions aborted due to file changes',
+} as const;
+
 const StyledBadge = styled.div<StatusBadgeProps>(({ theme, status }) => {
   const backgroundColor = theme.color[StatusColorMapping[status]];
   return {
@@ -44,9 +54,17 @@ const StyledBadge = styled.div<StatusBadgeProps>(({ theme, status }) => {
 
 export const StatusBadge: React.FC<StatusBadgeProps> = ({ status }) => {
   const badgeText = StatusTextMapping[status];
+  const badgeNote = StatusNoteMapping[status];
   return (
-    <StyledBadge aria-label="Status of the test run" status={status}>
-      {badgeText}
-    </StyledBadge>
+    <WithTooltip
+      hasChrome={false}
+      placement="top"
+      trigger="hover"
+      tooltip={<TooltipNote note={badgeNote} />}
+    >
+      <StyledBadge aria-label="Story status" status={status}>
+        {badgeText}
+      </StyledBadge>
+    </WithTooltip>
   );
 };
diff --git a/code/core/src/component-testing/components/Subnav.tsx b/code/core/src/component-testing/components/Subnav.tsx
index 875d2a4d6eba..51729516fc2d 100644
--- a/code/core/src/component-testing/components/Subnav.tsx
+++ b/code/core/src/component-testing/components/Subnav.tsx
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ const SubnavWrapper = styled.div(({ theme }) => ({
 }));
 
 const StyledSubnav = styled.nav({
-  height: 40,
+  height: 39,
   display: 'flex',
   alignItems: 'center',
   justifyContent: 'space-between',
@@ -102,7 +102,6 @@ const RewindButton = styled(StyledIconButton)({
 const JumpToEndButton = styled(StyledButton)({
   marginLeft: 9,
   marginRight: 9,
-  marginBottom: 1,
   lineHeight: '12px',
 });
 
diff --git a/code/core/src/manager/components/sidebar/TagsFilter.tsx b/code/core/src/manager/components/sidebar/TagsFilter.tsx
index 16694d57f876..cfd094f6a704 100644
--- a/code/core/src/manager/components/sidebar/TagsFilter.tsx
+++ b/code/core/src/manager/components/sidebar/TagsFilter.tsx
@@ -27,6 +27,20 @@ const BUILT_IN_TAGS = new Set([
   'test-fn',
 ]);
 
+// Immutable set operations
+const add = (set: Set<string>, id: string) => {
+  const copy = new Set(set);
+  copy.add(id);
+  return copy;
+};
+const remove = (set: Set<string>, id: string) => {
+  const copy = new Set(set);
+  copy.delete(id);
+  return copy;
+};
+const equal = (left: Set<string>, right: Set<string>) =>
+  left.size === right.size && new Set([...left, ...right]).size === left.size;
+
 const Wrapper = styled.div({
   position: 'relative',
 });
@@ -58,17 +72,20 @@ export interface TagsFilterProps {
 
 export const TagsFilter = ({ api, indexJson, isDevelopment, tagPresets }: TagsFilterProps) => {
   const filtersById = useMemo<{ [id: string]: Filter }>(() => {
-    const userTagsCounts = Object.values(indexJson.entries).reduce((acc, entry) => {
-      entry.tags?.forEach((tag: Tag) => {
-        if (!BUILT_IN_TAGS.has(tag)) {
-          acc.set(tag, (acc.get(tag) || 0) + 1);
-        }
-      });
-      return acc;
-    }, new Map<Tag, number>());
+    const userTagsCounts = Object.values(indexJson.entries).reduce<{ [key: Tag]: number }>(
+      (acc, entry) => {
+        entry.tags?.forEach((tag: Tag) => {
+          if (!BUILT_IN_TAGS.has(tag)) {
+            acc[tag] = (acc[tag] || 0) + 1;
+          }
+        });
+        return acc;
+      },
+      {}
+    );
 
     const userFilters = Object.fromEntries(
-      userTagsCounts.entries().map(([tag, count]) => {
+      Object.entries(userTagsCounts).map(([tag, count]) => {
         const filterFn = (entry: API_PreparedIndexEntry, excluded?: boolean) =>
           excluded ? !entry.tags?.includes(tag) : !!entry.tags?.includes(tag);
         return [tag, { id: tag, type: 'tag', title: tag, count, filterFn }];
@@ -163,19 +180,18 @@ export const TagsFilter = ({ api, indexJson, isDevelopment, tagPresets }: TagsFi
 
   const toggleFilter = useCallback(
     (id: string, selected: boolean, excluded?: boolean) => {
-      const set = new Set([id]);
       if (excluded === true) {
-        setExcludedFilters(excludedFilters.union(set));
-        setIncludedFilters(includedFilters.difference(set));
+        setExcludedFilters(add(excludedFilters, id));
+        setIncludedFilters(remove(includedFilters, id));
       } else if (excluded === false) {
-        setIncludedFilters(includedFilters.union(set));
-        setExcludedFilters(excludedFilters.difference(set));
+        setIncludedFilters(add(includedFilters, id));
+        setExcludedFilters(remove(excludedFilters, id));
       } else if (selected) {
-        setIncludedFilters(includedFilters.union(set));
-        setExcludedFilters(excludedFilters.difference(set));
+        setIncludedFilters(add(includedFilters, id));
+        setExcludedFilters(remove(excludedFilters, id));
       } else {
-        setIncludedFilters(includedFilters.difference(set));
-        setExcludedFilters(excludedFilters.difference(set));
+        setIncludedFilters(remove(includedFilters, id));
+        setExcludedFilters(remove(excludedFilters, id));
       }
     },
     [includedFilters, excludedFilters]
@@ -224,8 +240,7 @@ export const TagsFilter = ({ api, indexJson, isDevelopment, tagPresets }: TagsFi
           resetFilters={resetFilters}
           isDevelopment={isDevelopment}
           isDefaultSelection={
-            includedFilters.symmetricDifference(defaultIncluded).size === 0 &&
-            excludedFilters.symmetricDifference(defaultExcluded).size === 0
+            equal(includedFilters, defaultIncluded) && equal(excludedFilters, defaultExcluded)
           }
           hasDefaultSelection={defaultIncluded.size > 0 || defaultExcluded.size > 0}
         />
diff --git a/code/core/src/manager/components/sidebar/useExpanded.ts b/code/core/src/manager/components/sidebar/useExpanded.ts
index 878cc5f5f741..9ed62872df0b 100644
--- a/code/core/src/manager/components/sidebar/useExpanded.ts
+++ b/code/core/src/manager/components/sidebar/useExpanded.ts
@@ -41,18 +41,24 @@ const initializeExpanded = ({
   initialExpanded,
   highlightedRef,
   rootIds,
+  selectedStoryId,
 }: {
   refId: string;
   data: StoriesHash;
   initialExpanded?: ExpandedState;
   highlightedRef: MutableRefObject<Highlight>;
   rootIds: string[];
+  selectedStoryId: string | null;
 }) => {
-  const highlightedAncestors =
-    highlightedRef.current?.refId === refId
-      ? getAncestorIds(data, highlightedRef.current?.itemId)
-      : [];
-  return [...rootIds, ...highlightedAncestors].reduce<ExpandedState>(
+  const selectedStory = selectedStoryId && data[selectedStoryId];
+  const candidates = [...rootIds];
+  if (highlightedRef.current?.refId === refId) {
+    candidates.push(...getAncestorIds(data, highlightedRef.current?.itemId));
+  }
+  if (selectedStory && 'children' in selectedStory && selectedStory.children?.length) {
+    candidates.push(selectedStoryId);
+  }
+  return candidates.reduce<ExpandedState>(
     // @ts-expect-error (non strict)
     (acc, id) => Object.assign(acc, { [id]: id in initialExpanded ? initialExpanded[id] : true }),
     {}
@@ -90,7 +96,7 @@ export const useExpanded = ({
     (state, { ids, value }) =>
       ids.reduce((acc, id) => Object.assign(acc, { [id]: value }), { ...state }),
     // @ts-expect-error (non strict)
-    { refId, data, highlightedRef, rootIds, initialExpanded },
+    { refId, data, highlightedRef, rootIds, initialExpanded, selectedStoryId },
     initializeExpanded
   );
 
diff --git a/code/e2e-tests/component-tests.spec.ts b/code/e2e-tests/component-tests.spec.ts
index 3059bda9d5a7..0af1a3f08b09 100644
--- a/code/e2e-tests/component-tests.spec.ts
+++ b/code/e2e-tests/component-tests.spec.ts
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ test.describe('interactions', () => {
     await expect(interactionsTab).toBeVisible();
 
     const panel = sbPage.panelContent();
-    const runStatusBadge = panel.locator('[aria-label="Status of the test run"]');
+    const runStatusBadge = panel.locator('[aria-label="Story status"]');
     await expect(runStatusBadge).toContainText(/Pass/);
     await expect(panel).toContainText(/"initial value"/);
     await expect(panel).toContainText(/clear/);
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ test.describe('interactions', () => {
     await expect(button).toContainText('Button', { timeout: 50000 });
 
     const panel = sbPage.panelContent();
-    await expect(panel).toContainText(/Pass/);
+    await expect(panel).toContainText(/Fail/);
     await expect(panel).toContainText(/Found 1 unhandled error/);
     await expect(panel).toBeVisible();
   });
diff --git a/code/e2e-tests/preview-api.spec.ts b/code/e2e-tests/preview-api.spec.ts
index 997f8fc6eff2..3e3b9947e1b5 100644
--- a/code/e2e-tests/preview-api.spec.ts
+++ b/code/e2e-tests/preview-api.spec.ts
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ test.describe('preview-api', () => {
     const interactionsTab = page.locator('#tabbutton-storybook-interactions-panel');
     await expect(interactionsTab).toBeVisible();
     const panel = sbPage.panelContent();
-    const runStatusBadge = panel.locator('[aria-label="Status of the test run"]');
+    const runStatusBadge = panel.locator('[aria-label="Story status"]');
     await expect(runStatusBadge).toContainText(/Pass/);
 
     // click outside, to remove focus from the input of the story, then press S to toggle sidebar