QA testers during smart contract audits — what roles actually move the things?

After multiple audit cycles across DeFi and gaming projects, I’ve realized audits go smoother when QA testers and auditors overlap early. We often catch logic gaps or inconsistent assumptions long before audit kickoff, yet many teams still treat QA as pre-audit cleanup.

For those with hands-on audit exposure, what specific QA actions actually reduced audit churn or helped auditors trust your reports faster?

Let’s trade frameworks that make QA an equal player in the security process.