On an apigateway websocket is the status returned from the lambda handler?

When an error is returned from a lambda websocket handler I was expecting something to be seen on the client side. But nothing. I can send messages from the lambda function over the websocket so I know that path works. Is there some configuration or other magic I'm missing?

exports.handler = async (event, context) => {
try {
return { statusCode: 200, body: "OK" }
} catch (status) {
return { statusCode: 500, body: "XXXX" }
}
}