diff --git a/src/HtmlUtils.tsx b/src/HtmlUtils.tsx
index 3c8d100be3..2c6e2a1830 100644
--- a/src/HtmlUtils.tsx
+++ b/src/HtmlUtils.tsx
@@ -176,8 +176,9 @@ const transformTags: IExtendedSanitizeOptions["transformTags"] = { // custom to
             attribs.target = '_blank'; // by default
 
             const transformed = tryTransformPermalinkToLocalHref(attribs.href); // only used to check if it is a link that can be handled locally
-            if (transformed !== attribs.href || // it could be converted so handle locally symbols e.g. @user:server.tdl, matrix: and matrix.to
-                attribs.href.match(ELEMENT_URL_PATTERN) // for https:vector|riot...
+            if (
+                transformed !== attribs.href || // it could be converted so handle locally symbols e.g. @user:server.tdl, matrix: and matrix.to
+                attribs.href.match(ELEMENT_URL_PATTERN) // for https links to Element domains
             ) {
                 delete attribs.target;
             }
diff --git a/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.tsx b/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.tsx
index 8ae5a785dd..91feace2eb 100644
--- a/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.tsx
+++ b/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.tsx
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 limitations under the License.
 */
 
-import React, { createRef, SyntheticEvent } from 'react';
+import React, { createRef, SyntheticEvent, MouseEvent } from 'react';
 import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
 import highlight from 'highlight.js';
 import { MsgType } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/@types/event";
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ import SettingsStore from "../../../settings/SettingsStore";
 import ReplyChain from "../elements/ReplyChain";
 import { pillifyLinks, unmountPills } from '../../../utils/pillify';
 import { IntegrationManagers } from "../../../integrations/IntegrationManagers";
-import { isPermalinkHost } from "../../../utils/permalinks/Permalinks";
+import { isPermalinkHost, tryTransformPermalinkToLocalHref } from "../../../utils/permalinks/Permalinks";
 import { copyPlaintext } from "../../../utils/strings";
 import AccessibleTooltipButton from "../elements/AccessibleTooltipButton";
 import { replaceableComponent } from "../../../utils/replaceableComponent";
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ import LinkPreviewGroup from '../rooms/LinkPreviewGroup';
 import { IBodyProps } from "./IBodyProps";
 import RoomContext from "../../../contexts/RoomContext";
 import AccessibleButton from '../elements/AccessibleButton';
+import { options as linkifyOpts } from "../../../linkify-matrix";
 
 const MAX_HIGHLIGHT_LENGTH = 4096;
 
@@ -418,6 +419,23 @@ export default class TextualBody extends React.Component<IBodyProps, IState> {
         });
     };
 
+    /**
+     * This acts as a fallback in-app navigation handler for any body links that
+     * were ignored as part of linkification because they were already links
+     * to start with (e.g. pills, links in the content).
+     */
+    private onBodyLinkClick = (e: MouseEvent): void => {
+        const target = e.target as Element;
+        if (target.nodeName !== "A" || target.classList.contains(linkifyOpts.className)) return;
+        const { href } = target as HTMLLinkElement;
+        const localHref = tryTransformPermalinkToLocalHref(href);
+        if (localHref !== href) {
+            // it could be converted to a localHref -> therefore handle locally
+            e.preventDefault();
+            window.location.hash = localHref;
+        }
+    };
+
     public getEventTileOps = () => ({
         isWidgetHidden: () => {
             return this.state.widgetHidden;
@@ -606,7 +624,9 @@ export default class TextualBody extends React.Component<IBodyProps, IState> {
 
         if (isEmote) {
             return (
-                <div className="mx_MEmoteBody mx_EventTile_content">
+                <div className="mx_MEmoteBody mx_EventTile_content"
+                    onClick={this.onBodyLinkClick}
+                >
                     *&nbsp;
                     <span
                         className="mx_MEmoteBody_sender"
@@ -622,14 +642,18 @@ export default class TextualBody extends React.Component<IBodyProps, IState> {
         }
         if (isNotice) {
             return (
-                <div className="mx_MNoticeBody mx_EventTile_content">
+                <div className="mx_MNoticeBody mx_EventTile_content"
+                    onClick={this.onBodyLinkClick}
+                >
                     { body }
                     { widgets }
                 </div>
             );
         }
         return (
-            <div className="mx_MTextBody mx_EventTile_content">
+            <div className="mx_MTextBody mx_EventTile_content"
+                onClick={this.onBodyLinkClick}
+            >
                 { body }
                 { widgets }
             </div>
diff --git a/src/linkify-matrix.ts b/src/linkify-matrix.ts
index 0b21ac1543..dbbece9033 100644
--- a/src/linkify-matrix.ts
+++ b/src/linkify-matrix.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ import linkifyString from '@matrix-org/linkify-string';
 import { RoomMember } from 'matrix-js-sdk/src/models/room-member';
 import { registerCustomProtocol, registerPlugin } from '@matrix-org/linkifyjs';
 
-//linkifyjs/src/core/fsm
 import { baseUrl } from "./utils/permalinks/MatrixToPermalinkConstructor";
 import {
     parsePermalink,
@@ -227,8 +226,9 @@ export const options = {
         if (type === Type.URL) {
             try {
                 const transformed = tryTransformPermalinkToLocalHref(href);
-                if (transformed !== href || // if it could be converted to handle locally for matrix symbols e.g. @user:server.tdl and matrix.to
-                    decodeURIComponent(href).match(ELEMENT_URL_PATTERN) // for https:vector|riot...
+                if (
+                    transformed !== href || // if it could be converted to handle locally for matrix symbols e.g. @user:server.tdl and matrix.to
+                    decodeURIComponent(href).match(ELEMENT_URL_PATTERN) // for https links to Element domains
                 ) {
                     return null;
                 } else {
diff --git a/src/utils/permalinks/Permalinks.ts b/src/utils/permalinks/Permalinks.ts
index c79e8af826..ed4844c3ac 100644
--- a/src/utils/permalinks/Permalinks.ts
+++ b/src/utils/permalinks/Permalinks.ts
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ export function tryTransformEntityToPermalink(entity: string): string {
     if (!entity) return null;
 
     // Check to see if it is a bare entity for starters
-    {if (entity[0] === '#' || entity[0] === '!') return makeRoomPermalink(entity);}
+    if (entity[0] === '#' || entity[0] === '!') return makeRoomPermalink(entity);
     if (entity[0] === '@') return makeUserPermalink(entity);
     if (entity[0] === '+') return makeGroupPermalink(entity);