diff --git a/bifrost/renderer/bifrost/onAfterRenderClient.ts b/bifrost/renderer/bifrost/onAfterRenderClient.ts
index 2b497eb..7217780 100644
--- a/bifrost/renderer/bifrost/onAfterRenderClient.ts
+++ b/bifrost/renderer/bifrost/onAfterRenderClient.ts
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@ import { PageContextClient } from "vike/types";
 import "../../lib/type";
 import { Turbolinks } from "../../lib/turbolinks";
 
-export default async function bifrostOnAfterRenderClient(
+export default function bifrostOnAfterRenderClient(
   pageContext: PageContextClient
 ) {
   if (!pageContext.isHydration && !pageContext.errorWhileRendering) {
-    await Turbolinks._vikeAfterRender(pageContext._turbolinksVisit, false);
+    Turbolinks._vikeAfterRender(pageContext._turbolinksVisit, false);
   }
 }
diff --git a/bifrost/renderer/wrapped/onBeforeRender.client.ts b/bifrost/renderer/wrapped/onBeforeRender.client.ts
index c235001..929e845 100644
--- a/bifrost/renderer/wrapped/onBeforeRender.client.ts
+++ b/bifrost/renderer/wrapped/onBeforeRender.client.ts
@@ -51,7 +51,15 @@ export default async function wrappedOnBeforeRender(
     */
     const resp = await fetch(pageContext.urlParsed.href, {
       headers: { ...pageContext.config.proxyHeaders, accept: "text/html" },
-    });
+    }).catch(() => {});
+
+    if (!resp) {
+      // hard reload. can happen on cors errors when redirected to external page
+      window.location.href = pageContext.urlParsed.href;
+      // stop vike rendering to let navigation happen
+      await new Promise(() => {});
+      return;
+    }
 
     if (resp.redirected) {
       const parsedUrl = new URL(resp.url);
diff --git a/tests/alb/index.mjs b/tests/alb/index.mjs
index f3380cb..a56918c 100644
--- a/tests/alb/index.mjs
+++ b/tests/alb/index.mjs
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ const BIFROST_PATHS = [
   "/redirect-page",
   "/auto-navigate",
   "/proxy-to",
+  "/cors-test",
   "/",
 ];
 
diff --git a/tests/e2e/specs/e2e.spec.ts b/tests/e2e/specs/e2e.spec.ts
index fcad089..604977f 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/specs/e2e.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/e2e/specs/e2e.spec.ts
@@ -436,6 +436,30 @@ test.describe("redirects", () => {
       await customProxy.goBack();
     });
 
+    test("on client navigation, redirect to external url", async ({ page }) => {
+      const externalUrl = "http://localhost:5555/cors-test";
+      ensureAllNetworkSucceeds(page);
+      const customProxy = new CustomProxyPage(page, {
+        title: "first page",
+        links: [
+          {
+            redirectTo: {
+              url: externalUrl,
+              title: "external",
+            },
+          },
+        ],
+      });
+      await customProxy.goto();
+      await customProxy.clickLink("external", {
+        browserReload: true,
+        waitFor: 0,
+      });
+
+      // back button works as expected
+      await customProxy.goBack();
+    });
+
     test("sets cookies along the way", async ({ page, context, baseURL }) => {
       ensureAllNetworkSucceeds(page);
       const customProxy = new CustomProxyPage(page, {
@@ -1042,12 +1066,15 @@ test.describe("back button restoration", () => {
     await customProxy.goto();
     const edit = page.getByRole("link").first();
 
-    await page.evaluate((rRoot: any) => {
-      rRoot.appendChild(document.createTextNode("edit1"));
-      document.addEventListener("turbolinks:before-cache", () => {
-        rRoot.appendChild(document.createTextNode("edit2"));
-      });
-    }, await edit.elementHandle());
+    await page.evaluate(
+      (rRoot: any) => {
+        rRoot.appendChild(document.createTextNode("edit1"));
+        document.addEventListener("turbolinks:before-cache", () => {
+          rRoot.appendChild(document.createTextNode("edit2"));
+        });
+      },
+      await edit.elementHandle()
+    );
     await expect(edit).toContainText("edit1");
     await expect(edit).not.toContainText("edit2");
 
@@ -1065,12 +1092,15 @@ test.describe("back button restoration", () => {
     await page.goto("./vite-page");
     await waitForTurbolinksInit(page);
     const edit = page.getByRole("link").first();
-    await page.evaluate((rRoot: any) => {
-      rRoot.appendChild(document.createTextNode("edit1"));
-      document.addEventListener("turbolinks:before-cache", () => {
-        rRoot.appendChild(document.createTextNode("edit2"));
-      });
-    }, await edit.elementHandle());
+    await page.evaluate(
+      (rRoot: any) => {
+        rRoot.appendChild(document.createTextNode("edit1"));
+        document.addEventListener("turbolinks:before-cache", () => {
+          rRoot.appendChild(document.createTextNode("edit2"));
+        });
+      },
+      await edit.elementHandle()
+    );
 
     await expect(edit).toContainText("edit1");
     await expect(edit).not.toContainText("edit2");
diff --git a/tests/fake-backend/index.ts b/tests/fake-backend/index.ts
index 491c1a1..f9bbd6c 100644
--- a/tests/fake-backend/index.ts
+++ b/tests/fake-backend/index.ts
@@ -27,7 +27,12 @@ app.get(["/custom", "/custom-:id"], async (req, res) => {
   }
   if ("redirectTo" in data) {
     res.status(302);
-    res.setHeader("location", `${publicUrl}${toPath(data.redirectTo)}`);
+
+    res.setHeader(
+      "location",
+      ("url" in data.redirectTo && data.redirectTo.url) ||
+        `${publicUrl}${toPath(data.redirectTo)}`
+    );
     if (data.cookies) {
       for (const [key, val] of Object.entries(data.cookies)) {
         res.setHeader("set-cookie", key + "=" + val);
@@ -80,7 +85,10 @@ app.get("/script-wrapped", async (req, res) => {
     res.setHeader("X-REACT-LAYOUT", "no_layout");
   }
   res.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/html");
-  res.status(200).type("text/html").send("<script>console.log('script-only')</script>");
+  res
+    .status(200)
+    .type("text/html")
+    .send("<script>console.log('script-only')</script>");
 });
 
 app.get("/json-wrapped", async (req, res) => {
diff --git a/tests/fake-backend/page-builder.ts b/tests/fake-backend/page-builder.ts
index 7dbb15d..e5d5726 100644
--- a/tests/fake-backend/page-builder.ts
+++ b/tests/fake-backend/page-builder.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ type LinkOptions = {
 };
 export type PageDataOk = {
   endpoint?: string;
+  url?: string;
   title: string;
   bodyAttrs?: string;
   layout?: string;
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ export function toPath(data: PageData) {
   }
   return (
     `/${"endpoint" in data ? data!.endpoint : "custom"}?page=` +
-    encodeURI(JSON.stringify(data))
+    encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(data))
   );
 }
 export enum Turbolinks {
diff --git a/tests/vite/server/index.ts b/tests/vite/server/index.ts
index 37f0c99..e3e6c60 100644
--- a/tests/vite/server/index.ts
+++ b/tests/vite/server/index.ts
@@ -55,6 +55,17 @@ async function startServer() {
     );
   });
 
+  app.get("/cors-test", async (req, res) => {
+    res.header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "http://localhost:5555");
+    res.header("Access-Control-Allow-Credentials", "true");
+    res
+      .status(200)
+      .type("text/html")
+      .send(
+        "<html><head><title>external</title></head><body>CORS test page from Vite server</body></html>"
+      );
+  });
+
   app.register(viteProxyPlugin, {
     upstream: UPSTREAM,
     host: HOST,