diff --git a/e2e/suite1/specs/exemplars.spec.ts b/e2e/suite1/specs/exemplars.spec.ts
index bd466c56d7b..7a8c77921b7 100644
--- a/e2e/suite1/specs/exemplars.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/suite1/specs/exemplars.spec.ts
@@ -46,6 +46,14 @@ describe('Exemplars', () => {
 
     e2e.components.DataSourcePicker.input().should('be.visible').click();
     e2e().contains(dataSourceName).scrollIntoView().should('be.visible').click();
+
+    // we need to wait for the query-field being lazy-loaded, in two steps:
+    // 1. first we wait for the text 'Loading...' to appear
+    // 1. then we wait for the text 'Loading...' to disappear
+    const monacoLoadingText = 'Loading...';
+    e2e.components.QueryField.container().should('be.visible').should('have.text', monacoLoadingText);
+    e2e.components.QueryField.container().should('be.visible').should('not.have.text', monacoLoadingText);
+
     e2e.components.TimePicker.openButton().click();
     e2e.components.TimePicker.fromField().clear().type('2021-07-10 17:10:00');
     e2e.components.TimePicker.toField().clear().type('2021-07-10 17:30:00');
diff --git a/e2e/suite1/specs/query-editor.spec.ts b/e2e/suite1/specs/query-editor.spec.ts
index 626228d8e36..e99275ce19b 100644
--- a/e2e/suite1/specs/query-editor.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/suite1/specs/query-editor.spec.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,15 @@ e2e.scenario({
     cy.contains('gdev-prometheus').scrollIntoView().should('be.visible').click();
     const queryText = 'http_requests_total';
 
-    e2e.components.QueryField.container().should('be.visible').type(queryText).type('{backspace}');
+    // we need to wait for the query-field being lazy-loaded, in two steps:
+    // it is a two-step process:
+    // 1. first we wait for the text 'Loading...' to appear
+    // 1. then we wait for the text 'Loading...' to disappear
+    const monacoLoadingText = 'Loading...';
+    e2e.components.QueryField.container().should('be.visible').should('have.text', monacoLoadingText);
+    e2e.components.QueryField.container().should('be.visible').should('not.have.text', monacoLoadingText);
+
+    e2e.components.QueryField.container().type(queryText).type('{backspace}');
 
     cy.contains(queryText.slice(0, -1)).should('be.visible');
 
diff --git a/packages/grafana-data/src/types/config.ts b/packages/grafana-data/src/types/config.ts
index c69f4e4dbd9..14d723dd74f 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-data/src/types/config.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-data/src/types/config.ts
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ export interface FeatureToggles {
   tempoServiceGraph: boolean;
   tempoSearch: boolean;
   recordedQueries: boolean;
-  prometheusMonaco: boolean;
   newNavigation: boolean;
   fullRangeLogsVolume: boolean;
   autoLoadFullRangeLogsVolume: boolean;
diff --git a/packages/grafana-runtime/src/config.ts b/packages/grafana-runtime/src/config.ts
index 3a3671f39cc..cae7cc4854c 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-runtime/src/config.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-runtime/src/config.ts
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@ export class GrafanaBootConfig implements GrafanaConfig {
     tempoServiceGraph: false,
     tempoSearch: false,
     recordedQueries: false,
-    prometheusMonaco: false,
     newNavigation: false,
     fullRangeLogsVolume: false,
     autoLoadFullRangeLogsVolume: false,
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromExploreQueryEditor.test.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromExploreQueryEditor.test.tsx
index ea45b588f86..b3fc96cd575 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromExploreQueryEditor.test.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromExploreQueryEditor.test.tsx
@@ -6,6 +6,16 @@ import { PrometheusDatasource } from '../datasource';
 import { PromQuery } from '../types';
 import { LoadingState, PanelData, toUtc, TimeRange } from '@grafana/data';
 
+// the monaco-based editor uses lazy-loading and that does not work
+// well with this test, and we do not need the monaco-related
+// functionality in this test anyway, so we mock it out.
+jest.mock('./monaco-query-field/MonacoQueryFieldWrapper', () => {
+  const fakeQueryField = () => <div>prometheus query field</div>;
+  return {
+    MonacoQueryFieldWrapper: fakeQueryField,
+  };
+});
+
 const setup = (renderMethod: any, propOverrides?: object) => {
   const datasourceMock: unknown = {
     languageProvider: {
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryEditorByApp.test.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryEditorByApp.test.tsx
index 033f95caf2f..b50796142de 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryEditorByApp.test.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryEditorByApp.test.tsx
@@ -7,6 +7,16 @@ import { PrometheusDatasource } from '../datasource';
 import { testIds as alertingTestIds } from './PromQueryEditorForAlerting';
 import { testIds as regularTestIds } from './PromQueryEditor';
 
+// the monaco-based editor uses lazy-loading and that does not work
+// well with this test, and we do not need the monaco-related
+// functionality in this test anyway, so we mock it out.
+jest.mock('./monaco-query-field/MonacoQueryFieldWrapper', () => {
+  const fakeQueryField = () => <div>prometheus query field</div>;
+  return {
+    MonacoQueryFieldWrapper: fakeQueryField,
+  };
+});
+
 function setup(app: CoreApp): RenderResult {
   const dataSource = ({
     createQuery: jest.fn((q) => q),
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryEditorForAlerting.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryEditorForAlerting.tsx
index ab81037e949..effb68b1703 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryEditorForAlerting.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryEditorForAlerting.tsx
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ export function PromQueryEditorForAlerting(props: PromQueryEditorProps) {
       history={[]}
       range={range}
       data={data}
-      placeholder="Enter a PromQL query"
       data-testid={testIds.editor}
     />
   );
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryField.test.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryField.test.tsx
index 5caf277a0bf..dc0a78aaf62 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryField.test.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryField.test.tsx
@@ -7,6 +7,16 @@ import { DataSourceInstanceSettings, PanelData, LoadingState, DataFrame } from '
 import { PromOptions } from '../types';
 import { render, screen } from '@testing-library/react';
 
+// the monaco-based editor uses lazy-loading and that does not work
+// well with this test, and we do not need the monaco-related
+// functionality in this test anyway, so we mock it out.
+jest.mock('./monaco-query-field/MonacoQueryFieldWrapper', () => {
+  const fakeQueryField = () => <div>prometheus query field</div>;
+  return {
+    MonacoQueryFieldWrapper: fakeQueryField,
+  };
+});
+
 describe('PromQueryField', () => {
   beforeAll(() => {
     // @ts-ignore
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryField.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryField.tsx
index a059c5ed77a..8de4357985f 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryField.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryField.tsx
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 import React, { ReactNode } from 'react';
 
-import { config } from '@grafana/runtime';
 import { Plugin } from 'slate';
 import {
   SlatePrism,
   TypeaheadInput,
   TypeaheadOutput,
-  QueryField,
   BracesPlugin,
   DOMUtil,
   SuggestionsState,
@@ -73,7 +71,6 @@ export function willApplySuggestion(suggestion: string, { typeaheadContext, type
 
 interface PromQueryFieldProps extends QueryEditorProps<PrometheusDatasource, PromQuery, PromOptions> {
   ExtraFieldElement?: ReactNode;
-  placeholder?: string;
   'data-testid'?: string;
 }
 
@@ -266,18 +263,14 @@ class PromQueryField extends React.PureComponent<PromQueryFieldProps, PromQueryF
       datasource: { languageProvider },
       query,
       ExtraFieldElement,
-      placeholder = 'Enter a PromQL query (run with Shift+Enter)',
       history = [],
     } = this.props;
 
     const { labelBrowserVisible, syntaxLoaded, hint } = this.state;
-    const cleanText = languageProvider ? languageProvider.cleanText : undefined;
     const hasMetrics = languageProvider.metrics.length > 0;
     const chooserText = getChooserText(datasource.lookupsDisabled, syntaxLoaded, hasMetrics);
     const buttonDisabled = !(syntaxLoaded && hasMetrics);
 
-    const isMonacoEditorEnabled = config.featureToggles.prometheusMonaco;
-
     return (
       <LocalStorageValueProvider<string[]> storageKey={LAST_USED_LABELS_KEY} defaultValue={[]}>
         {(lastUsedLabels, onLastUsedLabelsSave, onLastUsedLabelsDelete) => {
@@ -297,30 +290,14 @@ class PromQueryField extends React.PureComponent<PromQueryFieldProps, PromQueryF
                 </button>
 
                 <div className="gf-form gf-form--grow flex-shrink-1 min-width-15">
-                  {isMonacoEditorEnabled ? (
-                    <MonacoQueryFieldWrapper
-                      runQueryOnBlur={this.props.app !== CoreApp.Explore}
-                      languageProvider={languageProvider}
-                      history={history}
-                      onChange={this.onChangeQuery}
-                      onRunQuery={this.props.onRunQuery}
-                      initialValue={query.expr ?? ''}
-                    />
-                  ) : (
-                    <QueryField
-                      additionalPlugins={this.plugins}
-                      cleanText={cleanText}
-                      query={query.expr}
-                      onTypeahead={this.onTypeahead}
-                      onWillApplySuggestion={willApplySuggestion}
-                      onBlur={this.props.onBlur}
-                      onChange={this.onChangeQuery}
-                      onRunQuery={this.props.onRunQuery}
-                      placeholder={placeholder}
-                      portalOrigin="prometheus"
-                      syntaxLoaded={syntaxLoaded}
-                    />
-                  )}
+                  <MonacoQueryFieldWrapper
+                    runQueryOnBlur={this.props.app !== CoreApp.Explore}
+                    languageProvider={languageProvider}
+                    history={history}
+                    onChange={this.onChangeQuery}
+                    onRunQuery={this.props.onRunQuery}
+                    initialValue={query.expr ?? ''}
+                  />
                 </div>
               </div>
               {labelBrowserVisible && (
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/monaco-query-field/MonacoQueryField.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/monaco-query-field/MonacoQueryField.tsx
index 2d832a6e736..cadab747763 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/monaco-query-field/MonacoQueryField.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/monaco-query-field/MonacoQueryField.tsx
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { GrafanaTheme2 } from '@grafana/data';
 import { css } from '@emotion/css';
 import { useLatest } from 'react-use';
 import { promLanguageDefinition } from 'monaco-promql';
+import { selectors } from '@grafana/e2e-selectors';
 import { getCompletionProvider, getSuggestOptions } from './monaco-completion-provider';
 import { Props } from './MonacoQueryFieldProps';
 import { getOverrideServices } from './getOverrideServices';
@@ -101,6 +102,7 @@ const MonacoQueryField = (props: Props) => {
 
   return (
     <div
+      aria-label={selectors.components.QueryField.container}
       className={styles.container}
       // NOTE: we will be setting inline-style-width/height on this element
       ref={containerRef}