diff --git a/src/generators/server-side-rendering/index.ts b/src/generators/server-side-rendering/index.ts
index 2accc2bc7e..e08c10ff14 100644
--- a/src/generators/server-side-rendering/index.ts
+++ b/src/generators/server-side-rendering/index.ts
@@ -159,16 +159,29 @@ export default function ssr(
 			};
 		};
 
-		var escaped = {
-			'"': '"',
-			"'": '&##39;',
-			'&': '&',
-			'<': '&lt;',
-			'>': '&gt;'
-		};
+		${
+			// TODO this is a bit hacky
+			/__escape/.test(generator.renderCode) && deindent`
+				var escaped = {
+					'"': '&quot;',
+					"'": '&##39;',
+					'&': '&amp;',
+					'<': '&lt;',
+					'>': '&gt;'
+				};
+
+				function __escape(html) {
+					return String(html).replace(/["'&<>]/g, match => escaped[match]);
+				}
+			`
+		}
 
-		function __escape(html) {
-			return String(html).replace(/["'&<>]/g, match => escaped[match]);
+		${
+			/__isPromise/.test(generator.renderCode) && deindent`
+				function __isPromise(value) {
+					return value && typeof value.then === 'function';
+				}
+			`
 		}
 	`.replace(/(@+|#+|%+)(\w*(?:-\w*)?)/g, (match: string, sigil: string, name: string) => {
 		if (sigil === '@') return generator.alias(name);
diff --git a/src/generators/server-side-rendering/preprocess.ts b/src/generators/server-side-rendering/preprocess.ts
index 0734a135f2..7e9cb7365d 100644
--- a/src/generators/server-side-rendering/preprocess.ts
+++ b/src/generators/server-side-rendering/preprocess.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,16 @@ const preprocessors = {
 	RawMustacheTag: noop,
 	Text: noop,
 
+	AwaitBlock: (
+		generator: SsrGenerator,
+		node: Node,
+		elementStack: Node[]
+	) => {
+		preprocessChildren(generator, node.pending, elementStack);
+		preprocessChildren(generator, node.then, elementStack);
+		preprocessChildren(generator, node.catch, elementStack);
+	},
+
 	IfBlock: (
 		generator: SsrGenerator,
 		node: Node,
diff --git a/src/generators/server-side-rendering/visitors/AwaitBlock.ts b/src/generators/server-side-rendering/visitors/AwaitBlock.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6251eb15c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/generators/server-side-rendering/visitors/AwaitBlock.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+import visit from '../visit';
+import { SsrGenerator } from '../index';
+import Block from '../Block';
+import { Node } from '../../../interfaces';
+
+export default function visitAwaitBlock(
+	generator: SsrGenerator,
+	block: Block,
+	node: Node
+) {
+	block.contextualise(node.expression);
+	const { dependencies, snippet } = node.metadata;
+
+	// TODO should this be the generator's job? It's duplicated between
+	// here and the equivalent DOM compiler visitor
+	const contexts = new Map(block.contexts);
+	contexts.set(node.value, '__value');
+
+	const contextDependencies = new Map(block.contextDependencies);
+	contextDependencies.set(node.value, dependencies);
+
+	const childBlock = block.child({
+		contextDependencies,
+		contexts
+	});
+
+	generator.append('${(function(__value) { if(__isPromise(__value)) return `');
+
+	node.pending.children.forEach((child: Node) => {
+		visit(generator, childBlock, child);
+	});
+
+	generator.append('`; return `');
+
+	node.then.children.forEach((child: Node) => {
+		visit(generator, childBlock, child);
+	});
+
+	generator.append(`\`;}(${snippet})) }`);
+}
diff --git a/src/generators/server-side-rendering/visitors/index.ts b/src/generators/server-side-rendering/visitors/index.ts
index 0ed4a58e22..468239a949 100644
--- a/src/generators/server-side-rendering/visitors/index.ts
+++ b/src/generators/server-side-rendering/visitors/index.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import AwaitBlock from './AwaitBlock';
 import Comment from './Comment';
 import EachBlock from './EachBlock';
 import Element from './Element';
@@ -7,6 +8,7 @@ import RawMustacheTag from './RawMustacheTag';
 import Text from './Text';
 
 export default {
+	AwaitBlock,
 	Comment,
 	EachBlock,
 	Element,
diff --git a/src/parse/state/mustache.ts b/src/parse/state/mustache.ts
index 10b6751af3..b59cf92b8f 100644
--- a/src/parse/state/mustache.ts
+++ b/src/parse/state/mustache.ts
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ export default function mustache(parser: Parser) {
 				value: null,
 				error: null,
 				pending: {
-					start,
+					start: null,
 					end: null,
 					type: 'PendingBlock',
 					children: []
@@ -289,6 +289,7 @@ export default function mustache(parser: Parser) {
 		parser.stack.push(block);
 
 		if (type === 'AwaitBlock') {
+			block.pending.start = parser.index;
 			parser.stack.push(block.pending);
 		}
 	} else if (parser.eat('yield')) {
diff --git a/test/js/samples/ssr-no-oncreate-etc/expected.js b/test/js/samples/ssr-no-oncreate-etc/expected.js
index 51c10c7656..e8e5330377 100644
--- a/test/js/samples/ssr-no-oncreate-etc/expected.js
+++ b/test/js/samples/ssr-no-oncreate-etc/expected.js
@@ -22,16 +22,4 @@ SvelteComponent.renderCss = function() {
 	};
 };
 
-var escaped = {
-	'"': '&quot;',
-	"'": '&#39;',
-	'&': '&amp;',
-	'<': '&lt;',
-	'>': '&gt;'
-};
-
-function __escape(html) {
-	return String(html).replace(/["'&<>]/g, match => escaped[match]);
-}
-
 module.exports = SvelteComponent;
\ No newline at end of file