MassTransit consumer hard to test

I am having 2 issues testing MassTransit consumers:

1. Sync issue
2. MessageData

The first one is like this:

var testConsumer = TestFactory.ForConsumer<ImageUploadConsumer>().New(
                test =>
                {
                    test.UseConsumerFactory(new InstanceConsumerFactory<ImageUploadConsumer>(ImageConsumer));                    
                    test.Publish(message, (scenario, context) =>
                    {

                    });                    
                });

            testConsumer.Execute(); //Is non blocking

The following line (below) fails, because this line:

        moqFileMetaRepo.Verify(_ => _.Add(It.IsAny<IFileMeta>()),Times.Once ); 

is executed 9.9/10 before... this line ever did:

    public async Task Consume(ConsumeContext<ImageUploadWithThumb> context)

My fix has been to do

moqFileMetaRepo
            .Setup(repo => repo.Add(It.IsAny<IFileMeta>()))
            .Callback(() => { AutoEvent.Set(); });

And call the following before the assert:

AutoEvent.WaitOne(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));

Which is really a lot of work. And makes TDD or Testing in general a hassle, which I fear is only going to get ignored over time.

MessageData issue is another one. Here's the payload I'm sending through

        message = new ImageUploadWithThumb()
        {
            Id = Guid.NewGuid(),
            FileName = "Test.jpg",
            User = "Me",
            Extension = "jpg",
            OriginalImage = new ConstantMessageData<byte[]>(new Uri("https://g00gle.com"), new byte[] { 1, 2, 3 })
        };

I'm expecting to get byte[] { 1, 2, 3 } on the other end without having to resort to creating an actual persistence.

Instead:

On the sender side the MessageData.Value resolves ok. The consumer totally bombs. Works in prod though =_= which is not where testing should be.

I really just want to mock and UnitTest my consumer w/o having to wrestle with the framework - preferably in under 5 mins or so. Is there a way out while sticking to MT3?