diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/backend/response.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/backend/response.ts
index d28de344964bf..6b83f6e7d7870 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/backend/response.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/backend/response.ts
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ export class Response {
       addSection('Ran Playwright code', this._code, 'js');
 
     // Render tab titles upon changes or when more than one tab.
-    const tabSnapshot = this._context.currentTab() ? await this._context.currentTabOrDie().captureSnapshot(this._includeSnapshotRoot, this._includeSnapshotDepth, this._includeSnapshotBoxes, this._clientWorkspace) : undefined;
+    const tabSnapshot = this._context.currentTab() ? await this._context.currentTabOrDie().captureSnapshot(this._includeSnapshotRoot, this._includeSnapshotDepth, this._includeSnapshotBoxes, this._clientWorkspace, this._includeSnapshot !== 'none') : undefined;
     const tabHeaders = await Promise.all(this._context.tabs().map(tab => tab.headerSnapshot()));
     if (this._includeSnapshot !== 'none' || tabHeaders.some(header => header.changed)) {
       if (tabHeaders.length !== 1)
diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/backend/tab.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/backend/tab.ts
index 441f8a9f75b00..cff0839a70103 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/backend/tab.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/backend/tab.ts
@@ -406,19 +406,31 @@ export class Tab extends EventEmitter<TabEventsInterface> {
     this._requests.length = 0;
   }
 
-  async captureSnapshot(root: playwright.Locator | undefined, depth: number | undefined, boxes: boolean | undefined, relativeTo: string | undefined): Promise<TabSnapshot> {
+  async captureSnapshot(root: playwright.Locator | undefined, depth: number | undefined, boxes: boolean | undefined, relativeTo: string | undefined, includeAria: boolean = true): Promise<TabSnapshot> {
     await this._initializedPromise;
     let tabSnapshot: TabSnapshot | undefined;
-    const modalStates = await this._raceAgainstModalStates(async () => {
-      const ariaSnapshot = root
-        ? await root.ariaSnapshot({ mode: 'ai', depth, boxes })
-        : await this.page.ariaSnapshot({ mode: 'ai', depth, boxes });
-      tabSnapshot = {
-        ariaSnapshot,
-        modalStates: [],
-        events: [],
-      };
-    });
+    let modalStates: ModalState[] = [];
+    if (includeAria) {
+      modalStates = await this._raceAgainstModalStates(async () => {
+        const ariaSnapshot = root
+          ? await root.ariaSnapshot({ mode: 'ai', depth, boxes })
+          : await this.page.ariaSnapshot({ mode: 'ai', depth, boxes });
+        tabSnapshot = {
+          ariaSnapshot,
+          modalStates: [],
+          events: [],
+        };
+      });
+    } else if (this.modalStates().length) {
+      // Matches the aria path's modal fallback below, without the race: there
+      // is no tree walk for a modal to interrupt.
+      modalStates = this.modalStates();
+    } else {
+      // The caller will not render the aria snapshot, so skip the accessibility
+      // tree walk, which dominates response latency on heavy pages. Console and
+      // events are still reported via the shared tail below.
+      tabSnapshot = { ariaSnapshot: '', modalStates: [], events: [] };
+    }
     if (tabSnapshot) {
       tabSnapshot.consoleLink = await this._consoleLog.take(relativeTo);
       tabSnapshot.events = this._recentEventEntries;