Packager signing process doesnt appear to complete

Tool: PSScriptPad, PSPackager
Version: latest
the PS Packager tool works fine and creates the executable. When applying the certificate though it doesnt appear to complete. So the status line in the Package process window says “Signing assembly with certificate cert:\LocalMachine\My\MyCertID” and doesnt complete. So the only way to exit is to choose the cancel button. Although the executable produced no longer gets picked up by MS Defender but its not clear if its actually signed. I dont have access to the MS signtool. Any ideas?