diff --git a/.docker/tests/conftest.py b/.docker/tests/conftest.py
index 2d222353ac..edcec3183b 100644
--- a/.docker/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/.docker/tests/conftest.py
@@ -22,9 +22,11 @@ def docker_compose(docker_services):
     return docker_services._docker_compose
 
 
-@pytest.fixture
-def timeout():
-    """Container and service startup timeout"""
+@pytest.fixture(scope='session', autouse=True)
+def _services_prepare_timeout():
+    """Container and service startup timeout, before tests session starts
+    waiting for the containers to be ready.
+    """
     return 30
 
 
diff --git a/.docker/tests/test_aiida.py b/.docker/tests/test_aiida.py
index 0ab8860231..95956f9d1f 100644
--- a/.docker/tests/test_aiida.py
+++ b/.docker/tests/test_aiida.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 # pylint: disable=missing-docstring
 import json
-import time
 
 from packaging.version import parse
 import pytest
@@ -22,8 +21,7 @@ def test_correct_pgsql_version_installed(aiida_exec, pgsql_version, variant):
     assert parse(info['version']).major == parse(pgsql_version).major
 
 
-def test_verdi_status(aiida_exec, container_user, timeout):
-    time.sleep(timeout)
+def test_verdi_status(aiida_exec, container_user):
     output = aiida_exec('verdi status', user=container_user).decode().strip()
     assert 'Connected to RabbitMQ' in output
     assert 'Daemon is running' in output
@@ -32,8 +30,7 @@ def test_verdi_status(aiida_exec, container_user, timeout):
     assert 'Warning' not in output
 
 
-def test_computer_setup_success(aiida_exec, container_user, timeout):
-    time.sleep(timeout)
+def test_computer_setup_success(aiida_exec, container_user):
     output = aiida_exec('verdi computer test localhost', user=container_user).decode().strip()
 
     assert 'Success' in output