system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why does the last minute on the washing machine always take several minutes?

I put on a wash, and it says 40 minutes to go.  I come back in about that time, and see there is 1 minute remaining so I stick around to transfer the clothes to the dryer or rack.  Several minutes later, there is still 1 minute remaining.  Why does the machine lose sense of time in the last minute?
gpt
It's because the first half of the wash (the tumbling and the soap and the water part) is times. The second half is based on a state the machine is in. Once the timer finishes (it's set to finish with 1 minute remaining), it starts draining water and spinning hard to get most of the water out. This takes a couple of minutes, but it's not timed on the machine's clock.

(The above is an educated guess. All washing machines work differently.)