diff --git a/clientapi/routing/createroom.go b/clientapi/routing/createroom.go
index 57fc3f33a..af43064fe 100644
--- a/clientapi/routing/createroom.go
+++ b/clientapi/routing/createroom.go
@@ -342,8 +342,7 @@ func createRoom(
 	}
 
 	// send events to the room server
-	_, err = roomserverAPI.SendEvents(req.Context(), rsAPI, builtEvents, cfg.Matrix.ServerName, nil)
-	if err != nil {
+	if err = roomserverAPI.SendEvents(req.Context(), rsAPI, builtEvents, cfg.Matrix.ServerName, nil); err != nil {
 		util.GetLogger(req.Context()).WithError(err).Error("SendEvents failed")
 		return jsonerror.InternalServerError()
 	}
diff --git a/clientapi/routing/membership.go b/clientapi/routing/membership.go
index cba19a24b..202662ab6 100644
--- a/clientapi/routing/membership.go
+++ b/clientapi/routing/membership.go
@@ -75,13 +75,12 @@ func sendMembership(ctx context.Context, accountDB accounts.Database, device *us
 		return jsonerror.InternalServerError()
 	}
 
-	_, err = roomserverAPI.SendEvents(
+	if err = roomserverAPI.SendEvents(
 		ctx, rsAPI,
 		[]gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent{event.Event.Headered(roomVer)},
 		cfg.Matrix.ServerName,
 		nil,
-	)
-	if err != nil {
+	); err != nil {
 		util.GetLogger(ctx).WithError(err).Error("SendEvents failed")
 		return jsonerror.InternalServerError()
 	}
diff --git a/clientapi/routing/profile.go b/clientapi/routing/profile.go
index 4c7895bd3..bc51b0b51 100644
--- a/clientapi/routing/profile.go
+++ b/clientapi/routing/profile.go
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ func SetAvatarURL(
 		return jsonerror.InternalServerError()
 	}
 
-	if _, err := api.SendEvents(req.Context(), rsAPI, events, cfg.Matrix.ServerName, nil); err != nil {
+	if err := api.SendEvents(req.Context(), rsAPI, events, cfg.Matrix.ServerName, nil); err != nil {
 		util.GetLogger(req.Context()).WithError(err).Error("SendEvents failed")
 		return jsonerror.InternalServerError()
 	}
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ func SetDisplayName(
 		return jsonerror.InternalServerError()
 	}
 
-	if _, err := api.SendEvents(req.Context(), rsAPI, events, cfg.Matrix.ServerName, nil); err != nil {
+	if err := api.SendEvents(req.Context(), rsAPI, events, cfg.Matrix.ServerName, nil); err != nil {
 		util.GetLogger(req.Context()).WithError(err).Error("SendEvents failed")
 		return jsonerror.InternalServerError()
 	}
diff --git a/clientapi/routing/redaction.go b/clientapi/routing/redaction.go
index a825da64d..178bfafc9 100644
--- a/clientapi/routing/redaction.go
+++ b/clientapi/routing/redaction.go
@@ -122,8 +122,7 @@ func SendRedaction(
 			JSON: jsonerror.NotFound("Room does not exist"),
 		}
 	}
-	_, err = roomserverAPI.SendEvents(context.Background(), rsAPI, []gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent{*e}, cfg.Matrix.ServerName, nil)
-	if err != nil {
+	if err = roomserverAPI.SendEvents(context.Background(), rsAPI, []gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent{*e}, cfg.Matrix.ServerName, nil); err != nil {
 		util.GetLogger(req.Context()).WithError(err).Errorf("failed to SendEvents")
 		return jsonerror.InternalServerError()
 	}
diff --git a/clientapi/routing/sendevent.go b/clientapi/routing/sendevent.go
index a25979ea0..9744a5640 100644
--- a/clientapi/routing/sendevent.go
+++ b/clientapi/routing/sendevent.go
@@ -90,27 +90,26 @@ func SendEvent(
 
 	// pass the new event to the roomserver and receive the correct event ID
 	// event ID in case of duplicate transaction is discarded
-	eventID, err := api.SendEvents(
+	if err := api.SendEvents(
 		req.Context(), rsAPI,
 		[]gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent{
 			e.Headered(verRes.RoomVersion),
 		},
 		cfg.Matrix.ServerName,
 		txnAndSessionID,
-	)
-	if err != nil {
+	); err != nil {
 		util.GetLogger(req.Context()).WithError(err).Error("SendEvents failed")
 		return jsonerror.InternalServerError()
 	}
 	util.GetLogger(req.Context()).WithFields(logrus.Fields{
-		"event_id":     eventID,
+		"event_id":     e.EventID(),
 		"room_id":      roomID,
 		"room_version": verRes.RoomVersion,
 	}).Info("Sent event to roomserver")
 
 	res := util.JSONResponse{
 		Code: http.StatusOK,
-		JSON: sendEventResponse{eventID},
+		JSON: sendEventResponse{e.EventID()},
 	}
 	// Add response to transactionsCache
 	if txnID != nil {
diff --git a/clientapi/threepid/invites.go b/clientapi/threepid/invites.go
index 2ffb6bb09..b9575a284 100644
--- a/clientapi/threepid/invites.go
+++ b/clientapi/threepid/invites.go
@@ -359,7 +359,7 @@ func emit3PIDInviteEvent(
 		return err
 	}
 
-	_, err = api.SendEvents(
+	return api.SendEvents(
 		ctx, rsAPI,
 		[]gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent{
 			(*event).Headered(queryRes.RoomVersion),
@@ -367,5 +367,4 @@ func emit3PIDInviteEvent(
 		cfg.Matrix.ServerName,
 		nil,
 	)
-	return err
 }
diff --git a/federationapi/routing/join.go b/federationapi/routing/join.go
index 6cac12451..36afe30ab 100644
--- a/federationapi/routing/join.go
+++ b/federationapi/routing/join.go
@@ -266,15 +266,14 @@ func SendJoin(
 	// We are responsible for notifying other servers that the user has joined
 	// the room, so set SendAsServer to cfg.Matrix.ServerName
 	if !alreadyJoined {
-		_, err = api.SendEvents(
+		if err = api.SendEvents(
 			httpReq.Context(), rsAPI,
 			[]gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent{
 				event.Headered(stateAndAuthChainResponse.RoomVersion),
 			},
 			cfg.Matrix.ServerName,
 			nil,
-		)
-		if err != nil {
+		); err != nil {
 			util.GetLogger(httpReq.Context()).WithError(err).Error("SendEvents failed")
 			return jsonerror.InternalServerError()
 		}
diff --git a/federationapi/routing/leave.go b/federationapi/routing/leave.go
index 511623445..8bb0a8a94 100644
--- a/federationapi/routing/leave.go
+++ b/federationapi/routing/leave.go
@@ -247,15 +247,14 @@ func SendLeave(
 	// Send the events to the room server.
 	// We are responsible for notifying other servers that the user has left
 	// the room, so set SendAsServer to cfg.Matrix.ServerName
-	_, err = api.SendEvents(
+	if err = api.SendEvents(
 		httpReq.Context(), rsAPI,
 		[]gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent{
 			event.Headered(verRes.RoomVersion),
 		},
 		cfg.Matrix.ServerName,
 		nil,
-	)
-	if err != nil {
+	); err != nil {
 		util.GetLogger(httpReq.Context()).WithError(err).Error("producer.SendEvents failed")
 		return jsonerror.InternalServerError()
 	}
diff --git a/federationapi/routing/send.go b/federationapi/routing/send.go
index cad779219..570062adc 100644
--- a/federationapi/routing/send.go
+++ b/federationapi/routing/send.go
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ func (t *txnReq) processEvent(e gomatrixserverlib.Event, isInboundTxn bool) erro
 	}
 
 	// pass the event to the roomserver
-	_, err := api.SendEvents(
+	return api.SendEvents(
 		t.context, t.rsAPI,
 		[]gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent{
 			e.Headered(stateResp.RoomVersion),
@@ -390,7 +390,6 @@ func (t *txnReq) processEvent(e gomatrixserverlib.Event, isInboundTxn bool) erro
 		api.DoNotSendToOtherServers,
 		nil,
 	)
-	return err
 }
 
 func checkAllowedByState(e gomatrixserverlib.Event, stateEvents []gomatrixserverlib.Event) error {
diff --git a/federationapi/routing/threepid.go b/federationapi/routing/threepid.go
index e8d9a9397..ec6cc1488 100644
--- a/federationapi/routing/threepid.go
+++ b/federationapi/routing/threepid.go
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ func CreateInvitesFrom3PIDInvites(
 	}
 
 	// Send all the events
-	if _, err := api.SendEvents(req.Context(), rsAPI, evs, cfg.Matrix.ServerName, nil); err != nil {
+	if err := api.SendEvents(req.Context(), rsAPI, evs, cfg.Matrix.ServerName, nil); err != nil {
 		util.GetLogger(req.Context()).WithError(err).Error("SendEvents failed")
 		return jsonerror.InternalServerError()
 	}
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ func ExchangeThirdPartyInvite(
 	}
 
 	// Send the event to the roomserver
-	if _, err = api.SendEvents(
+	if err = api.SendEvents(
 		httpReq.Context(), rsAPI,
 		[]gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent{
 			signedEvent.Event.Headered(verRes.RoomVersion),
diff --git a/roomserver/api/input.go b/roomserver/api/input.go
index 05c981df4..73c4994a7 100644
--- a/roomserver/api/input.go
+++ b/roomserver/api/input.go
@@ -83,5 +83,4 @@ type InputRoomEventsRequest struct {
 
 // InputRoomEventsResponse is a response to InputRoomEvents
 type InputRoomEventsResponse struct {
-	EventID string `json:"event_id"`
 }
diff --git a/roomserver/api/wrapper.go b/roomserver/api/wrapper.go
index 207c12c8f..16f5e8e18 100644
--- a/roomserver/api/wrapper.go
+++ b/roomserver/api/wrapper.go
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import (
 func SendEvents(
 	ctx context.Context, rsAPI RoomserverInternalAPI, events []gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent,
 	sendAsServer gomatrixserverlib.ServerName, txnID *TransactionID,
-) (string, error) {
+) error {
 	ires := make([]InputRoomEvent, len(events))
 	for i, event := range events {
 		ires[i] = InputRoomEvent{
@@ -77,19 +77,16 @@ func SendEventWithState(
 		StateEventIDs: stateEventIDs,
 	})
 
-	_, err = SendInputRoomEvents(ctx, rsAPI, ires)
-	return err
+	return SendInputRoomEvents(ctx, rsAPI, ires)
 }
 
 // SendInputRoomEvents to the roomserver.
 func SendInputRoomEvents(
 	ctx context.Context, rsAPI RoomserverInternalAPI, ires []InputRoomEvent,
-) (eventID string, err error) {
+) error {
 	request := InputRoomEventsRequest{InputRoomEvents: ires}
 	var response InputRoomEventsResponse
-	err = rsAPI.InputRoomEvents(ctx, &request, &response)
-	eventID = response.EventID
-	return
+	return rsAPI.InputRoomEvents(ctx, &request, &response)
 }
 
 // SendInvite event to the roomserver.
diff --git a/roomserver/internal/input/input.go b/roomserver/internal/input/input.go
index 87bdc5dbf..7a44ff42c 100644
--- a/roomserver/internal/input/input.go
+++ b/roomserver/internal/input/input.go
@@ -19,12 +19,14 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"sync"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/Shopify/sarama"
 	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/roomserver/api"
 	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/roomserver/storage"
 	"github.com/matrix-org/gomatrixserverlib"
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+	"go.uber.org/atomic"
 )
 
 type Inputer struct {
@@ -33,7 +35,36 @@ type Inputer struct {
 	ServerName           gomatrixserverlib.ServerName
 	OutputRoomEventTopic string
 
-	mutexes sync.Map // room ID -> *sync.Mutex, protects calls to processRoomEvent
+	workers sync.Map // room ID -> *inputWorker
+}
+
+type inputTask struct {
+	ctx   context.Context
+	event *api.InputRoomEvent
+	wg    *sync.WaitGroup
+	err   error // written back by worker, only safe to read when all tasks are done
+}
+
+type inputWorker struct {
+	r       *Inputer
+	running atomic.Bool
+	input   chan *inputTask
+}
+
+func (w *inputWorker) start() {
+	if !w.running.CAS(false, true) {
+		return
+	}
+	defer w.running.Store(false)
+	for {
+		select {
+		case task := <-w.input:
+			_, task.err = w.r.processRoomEvent(task.ctx, task.event)
+			task.wg.Done()
+		case <-time.After(time.Second * 5):
+			return
+		}
+	}
 }
 
 // WriteOutputEvents implements OutputRoomEventWriter
@@ -73,19 +104,54 @@ func (r *Inputer) InputRoomEvents(
 	ctx context.Context,
 	request *api.InputRoomEventsRequest,
 	response *api.InputRoomEventsResponse,
-) (err error) {
+) error {
+	// Create a wait group. Each task that we dispatch will call Done on
+	// this wait group so that we know when all of our events have been
+	// processed.
+	wg := &sync.WaitGroup{}
+	wg.Add(len(request.InputRoomEvents))
+	tasks := make([]*inputTask, len(request.InputRoomEvents))
+
 	for i, e := range request.InputRoomEvents {
+		// Work out if we are running per-room workers or if we're just doing
+		// it on a global basis (e.g. SQLite).
 		roomID := "global"
 		if r.DB.SupportsConcurrentRoomInputs() {
 			roomID = e.Event.RoomID()
 		}
-		mutex, _ := r.mutexes.LoadOrStore(roomID, &sync.Mutex{})
-		mutex.(*sync.Mutex).Lock()
-		if response.EventID, err = r.processRoomEvent(ctx, request.InputRoomEvents[i]); err != nil {
-			mutex.(*sync.Mutex).Unlock()
-			return err
+
+		// Look up the worker, or create it if it doesn't exist. This channel
+		// is buffered to reduce the chance that we'll be blocked by another
+		// room - the channel will be quite small as it's just pointer types.
+		w, _ := r.workers.LoadOrStore(roomID, &inputWorker{
+			r:     r,
+			input: make(chan *inputTask, 10),
+		})
+		worker := w.(*inputWorker)
+
+		// Create a task. This contains the input event and a reference to
+		// the wait group, so that the worker can notify us when this specific
+		// task has been finished.
+		tasks[i] = &inputTask{
+			ctx:   ctx,
+			event: &request.InputRoomEvents[i],
+			wg:    wg,
+		}
+
+		// Send the task to the worker.
+		go worker.start()
+		worker.input <- tasks[i]
+	}
+
+	// Wait for all of the workers to return results about our tasks.
+	wg.Wait()
+
+	// If any of the tasks returned an error, we should probably report
+	// that back to the caller.
+	for _, task := range tasks {
+		if task.err != nil {
+			return task.err
 		}
-		mutex.(*sync.Mutex).Unlock()
 	}
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/roomserver/internal/input/input_events.go b/roomserver/internal/input/input_events.go
index 69f51f4b8..6ee679da6 100644
--- a/roomserver/internal/input/input_events.go
+++ b/roomserver/internal/input/input_events.go
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ import (
 // nolint:gocyclo
 func (r *Inputer) processRoomEvent(
 	ctx context.Context,
-	input api.InputRoomEvent,
+	input *api.InputRoomEvent,
 ) (eventID string, err error) {
 	// Parse and validate the event JSON
 	headered := input.Event
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ func (r *Inputer) processRoomEvent(
 
 func (r *Inputer) calculateAndSetState(
 	ctx context.Context,
-	input api.InputRoomEvent,
+	input *api.InputRoomEvent,
 	roomInfo types.RoomInfo,
 	stateAtEvent *types.StateAtEvent,
 	event gomatrixserverlib.Event,
diff --git a/roomserver/roomserver_test.go b/roomserver/roomserver_test.go
index 0deb7acb1..786d4f31f 100644
--- a/roomserver/roomserver_test.go
+++ b/roomserver/roomserver_test.go
@@ -114,8 +114,7 @@ func mustSendEvents(t *testing.T, ver gomatrixserverlib.RoomVersion, events []js
 
 	rsAPI := NewInternalAPI(base, &test.NopJSONVerifier{})
 	hevents := mustLoadEvents(t, ver, events)
-	_, err = api.SendEvents(ctx, rsAPI, hevents, testOrigin, nil)
-	if err != nil {
+	if err = api.SendEvents(ctx, rsAPI, hevents, testOrigin, nil); err != nil {
 		t.Errorf("failed to SendEvents: %s", err)
 	}
 	return rsAPI, dp, hevents