/** The first exception encountered if any threadAssertXXX method fails. */
  private final AtomicReference<Throwable> threadFailure = new AtomicReference<>(null);

  /**
   * Records an exception so that it can be rethrown later in the test harness thread, triggering a
   * test case failure. Only the first failure is recorded; subsequent calls to this method from
   * within the same test have no effect.
   */