diff --git a/packages/components/.storybook/main.cjs b/packages/components/.storybook/main.cjs
index e9886a681..bcf4bd394 100644
--- a/packages/components/.storybook/main.cjs
+++ b/packages/components/.storybook/main.cjs
@@ -26,10 +26,10 @@ module.exports = {
     options: {}
   },
   async viteFinal(config) {
-    return {
-      ...config,
-      plugins: [...config.plugins, tsconfigPaths.default()]
-    };
+    if (config.build === undefined) config.build = {}; // fallback if build is not defined
+    config.build.target = 'esnext'; // to allow top level await
+    config.plugins = [...config.plugins, tsconfigPaths.default()];
+    return config;
   },
   docs: {
     docs: true,
diff --git a/packages/components/.storybook/preview.js b/packages/components/.storybook/preview.js
index d58dfcd00..c9fc43c73 100644
--- a/packages/components/.storybook/preview.js
+++ b/packages/components/.storybook/preview.js
@@ -1,46 +1,9 @@
-import { setCustomElementsManifest } from '@storybook/web-components';
 import 'normalize.css';
 import '../src/solid-styles.css';
 import '../src/styles/tailwind.css';
-import { fetchStyleComponents } from '../scripts/storybook/styles-helper';
 import { registerIconLibrary } from '../src/utilities/icon-library';
 import { storybookUtilities } from '../scripts/storybook/helper';
 
-/**
- * This loads the custom elements manifest generated on run or on build time.
- */
-
-async function loadCustomElements() {
-  let customElements;
-
-  fetch('./custom-elements.json')
-    .then(() => {
-      // Use dynamic manifest generated by Vite on runtime
-      return fetch('./custom-elements.json').then(res => res.json());
-    })
-    .catch(() => {
-      console.log('Failed to fetch custom-elements.json. Using local manifest...');
-      // Use manifest file generated on build time
-      return import('../dist/custom-elements.json');
-    })
-    .then(async customElements => {
-      // In production, the manifest is optimized and styles are added during the build process.
-      // However, in development mode, the manifest isn't built with styles, so we add them dynamically.
-      // In the latter case therefore we have to "fetchStyleComponents", too.
-      const stylesAreAlreadyIncluded = customElements.modules.some(module => module.styles === true);
-      if (!stylesAreAlreadyIncluded) {
-        const styleComponents = await fetchStyleComponents();
-        customElements.modules = [...customElements?.modules, ...styleComponents];
-      }
-
-      setCustomElementsManifest(customElements);
-    });
-
-  console.log('Custom elements manifest loaded');
-}
-
-loadCustomElements();
-
 /**
  * This registers iconLibraries for the sd-icon component
  */
diff --git a/packages/components/scripts/storybook/fetch-cem.ts b/packages/components/scripts/storybook/fetch-cem.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9143b30a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/components/scripts/storybook/fetch-cem.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import { fetchStyleComponents } from './styles-helper';
+import { setCustomElementsManifest } from '@storybook/web-components';
+
+export default async function loadCustomElements() {
+  await fetch('./custom-elements.json');
+
+  // Use dynamic manifest generated by Vite on runtime
+  const response = await fetch('./custom-elements.json');
+  // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unsafe-assignment
+  const customElements = await response.json();
+
+  // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unsafe-assignment, @typescript-eslint/no-unsafe-member-access, @typescript-eslint/no-unsafe-call
+  const stylesAreAlreadyIncluded = customElements.modules.some((module: { styles: boolean }) => module.styles);
+  if (!stylesAreAlreadyIncluded) {
+    const styleComponents = await fetchStyleComponents();
+    // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unsafe-assignment, @typescript-eslint/no-unsafe-member-access
+    customElements.modules = [...customElements.modules, ...styleComponents];
+  }
+
+  setCustomElementsManifest(customElements);
+  console.log('Custom elements manifest loaded');
+}
diff --git a/packages/components/scripts/storybook/helper.ts b/packages/components/scripts/storybook/helper.ts
index 261c77f3f..013de32b8 100644
--- a/packages/components/scripts/storybook/helper.ts
+++ b/packages/components/scripts/storybook/helper.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { classMap } from 'lit/directives/class-map.js';
 import { getWcStorybookHelpers } from '@mariohamann/wc-storybook-helpers';
 import { html, unsafeStatic } from 'lit/static-html.js';
 import format from 'html-format';
+import loadCustomElements from './fetch-cem';
 
 type ArgTypesDefinition = 'attribute' | 'property' | 'slot' | 'cssPart' | 'cssProperty';
 
@@ -19,6 +20,8 @@ export interface ConstantDefinition {
   title?: string;
 }
 
+await loadCustomElements();
+
 /**
  * Returns default arguments, events, and argument types for a given custom element tag.
  *
@@ -58,7 +61,7 @@ export const storybookDefaults = (customElementTag: string): any => {
     // Get the properties that are not defined as attributes
     const getProperties = () => {
       const fieldMembers = (manifest?.members as member[])?.filter(member => member.kind === 'field');
-      const attributeNames = new Set(manifest.attributes?.map((attr: { fieldName: string }) => attr.fieldName));
+      const attributeNames = new Set(manifest?.attributes?.map((attr: { fieldName: string }) => attr.fieldName));
       const result = fieldMembers?.filter(member => !attributeNames.has(member.name) && member?.privacy !== 'private');
       return result?.map(member => member.name);
     };
@@ -253,7 +256,7 @@ export const storybookTemplate = (customElementTag: string) => {
     args: any;
   }) => {
     const template = (args: any) => {
-      if (!manifest.style) {
+      if (!manifest?.style) {
         return theTemplate(args);
       }
       // Extract class related attributes and transform into an object.