The level of chaos expected in the final round of European “league phase” fixtures can be summed up by the fact Uefa officials have been directing clubs to a simulator that helps them make sense of the permutations affecting their team. They will also be able to monitor changes to their prospects in real time.

Nothing like Wednesday night’s Champions League denouement, when 18 games will take place simultaneously in a dramatic scramble for progress to the knockouts, has been seen before and the challenges are obvious. Swiftly communicating the implications of sudden swings in a densely packed table may tax the ablest of mathematical brains.

Related: Champions League: who’s through, who’s out and who needs what in final fixtures?

Yet despite a certain level of trepidation, not least among broadcasters planning how to distil the action, the prevailing mood is that the standings before match day eight are a resounding justification of Uefa’s controversial new format.

Three points separate third-placed Arsenal and Brest, who sit 13th, in the battle for a top-eight spot and automatic progress to the last 16; further down Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, two giants this sprawling model is supposed to protect, may yet tumble out altogether. This is the level of jeopardy neutrals, if not those invested in the behemoths’ fortunes, would have craved.

The Swiss system has had its doubters in the club game, one suggestion being that it is merely a halfway house to a further revamp in 2027. But there is an increasing sense it may survive longer if it continues in such a riveting vein. One figure close to such discussions notes wryly that there are some within Uefa who, having been staunchly against the format before its rubber stamping in 2021, are more than happy to associate themselves with its success three years later.

It will be a night of high stakes. City and PSG are both reduced to craving a place in next month’s playoffs and Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, both of whom view a spot among the pacesetters as their birthright, are certain to be bogged down in the extra round, too. Lower down, even those without hope will feel there is something to gain.

An executive from one club involved in the midweek continental melee points out, with a perfectly straight face, that bottom-placed Young Boys’ clash with 32nd-placed Red Star Belgrade remains critical for both given the £1.8m prize for winning a game and the potential for bolstering that number significantly through a generous league ranking bonus.

The latter example may not get the pulse racing and, in truth, the number of teams already eliminated from the competition has confounded most of the simulations run in advance. Nine are already out, Shakhtar Donetsk making the 10th barring a miracle.

In performing some of its intended functions, the format has laid bare a few unpleasant truths. It was always the idea that teams would be compelled not to ease off after going ahead, knowing goal difference could mean everything in such a congested field. One by-product has been a string of thrashings, leaving some working within mid-ranking leagues to lament that the difference in power between the elite and the rest has been exposed more realistically than ever.

It is certainly damning to the wider state of European football that, unless Dinamo Zagreb defeat Milan and see other results go favourably, the tournament’s final 24 will not contain any teams from east of Munich. That outcome will feed those who view the Swiss system as nothing but a de facto Super League. The surprises and success stories have generally stemmed from the biggest countries: Brest are certainly one but, even then, their fast start owed partly to an imbalance in the schedule that front-loaded their easier fixtures into the first four matches. Before the fifth, at Barcelona, they had not faced a side from the top seeds in pot one.

That is the kind of flaw that can be ironed out in subsequent editions. An unintended problem of the kind this model had all but discounted may arise in Stuttgart, where the Bundesliga side and PSG face off in the knowledge that a draw would send both through. The optics of playing out a biscotto in plain sight make a deliberately slow-burning farce unlikely; City, two points behind both and requiring a win against Club Brugge, will have no such option in their own deciding tie.

The odds are on PSG and City both progressing, which will be a relief to many of the game’s decision makers. Uncertainty may be considered fun and engaging, but only as long as a big name does not fall into the abyss. Early elimination will certainly not have been what Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the PSG president, who watched their win over City alongside his Uefa counterpart Aleksander Ceferin, imagined when backing the redesign in his role as European Club Association chairman.

Their fate will be known soon enough, and the Swiss system’s status may become more secure. One school of thought is it could neatly evolve into a two-group format of 18 teams each, which would look more relatable to supporters while not dulling the elements that appear to have worked this year.

Wednesday’s drama will serve to shape, or cement, many perceptions but Europe’s tastemakers are getting ready to congratulate themselves on a job well done. “We were missing this kind of stuff,” says a figure who was influential in crafting the eight-game schedule Uefa settled upon, reflecting on the goal-laden seventh round of games. Perhaps familiarity with the sprawling new competition will not breed contempt after all.