We tend to play that an augmentation lasts one contest, regardless of the contest duration.
I don't like the duration table. Its focus on precise durations is at odds with the flexibility of the other mechanics.
Contests, and the rounds of extended contests, do not have a precise durations, which is a good thing. If you start insisting on a 10 min. limit, one has to know when the contest reaches that limit. Travel that road and you would return to fixed combat round and spell durations. Those of us who have made the transition do not want to regress to RQ-isms.
Applying the duration table only outside contests is of no help either, since the length of time between contest is similarly flexible and vague. In fact, in our game, the time between scenes and episodes was once so vague we did not precisely know what year we were in!
I conclude that the duration table is useless. Certainly, we never use it.
As HW has a narrative and action focus, rather than a simulation and process focus, perhaps the duration table should be altered to reflect this? For example, by measuring duration by the number of contests or number of episodes? That can also be justified in game world terms: magic that is unchallenged (by contests) is not drained, and so lasts longer.
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