Commit updates to UpdatePanel before synchronous process ends

I have a button click configured as an asynchronous postback trigger in ASP.NET AJAX. I want to hide a panel immediately, and then continue executing the rest of the code in the event 开发者_运维百科handler.

How can I do this?

I've implemented this by using a timer. When I click the button it performs the actions that I want done right away, and a separate timer Tick event completes processing asynchronously.