Same experience as redsnail, I flew in the other day, they made us walk a long snaking ‘queue’ but kept moving all the way to a queue of about 5 people at the egate.
been flying all pandemic too and while I have had to wait over 90 mins once at Heathrow the queues have been very random with ‘no delay’ being the norm.
Don’t let fear of what might happen put you off but if you do get stuck don’t be scared to make a fuss, ask for a seat, drink of water, etc.