Why does StepVerifier.Step.expectNoEvent not fail?

When a flux has a delayElements operator, the StepVerifier.Step.expectNoEvent correctly throws an AssertionError if an event is emitted before the duration.

Consider the following test:

  @Test
  public void testWithDelayElements() {
    StepVerifier.withVirtualTime(() -> Flux.just(1, 2, 3).delayElements(Duration.ofSeconds(1)))
        .expectSubscription()
        .expectNoEvent(Duration.ofSeconds(2))
        .expectNext(1)
        .thenCancel()
        .verify();
  }

which throws

expectation failed (expected no event: onNext(1))
java.lang.AssertionError:... 

However, if the flux doesn't have a delayElements operator, then the test passes.

  @Test
  public void testWithoutDelayElements() {
    StepVerifier.withVirtualTime(() -> Flux.just(1, 2, 3))
        .expectSubscription()
        .expectNoEvent(Duration.ofSeconds(2))
        .expectNext(1)
        .thenCancel()
        .verify();
  }

I don't understand why this passes?

Edit: I see there is a similar GitHub issue which seems to explain the blocking behavior of expectNoEvent in one of the comments. However, that seems to apply when virtual time scheduler is not being used. I am using the virtual time schedular, so the thread should not be blocked, right?