IO Exception: existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host; timed out

I've been running an MC server on my local machien for some weeks, and this weekend found neither I nor my remote party could connect.

Please help!

Clients can connect, receive and render the world, but it is generally non-interactive (eg pressure plates do not work), and clients are said to have 'timed out' within seconds. However, the player spawn point has advnaced by a few blocks and some blocks seem to have been destroyed at the spawn point, indicating that some interaction did take place.

When Windows Firewall is configured to allow access to the default port, the error message the client displays is:

Internal Exception: java.io.IOException: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host.

When Windows Defender Firewall is turned off, the error message displayed by the client is:

Connection Lost
{{ Timed Out.}}

In both cases, client and server logs show the same:

From Client log:

Minecraft client 1.14.4 is ready to start.
{{ ...}}
{{ Using default game log configuration client-1.12.xml (outputs XML)}}
{{ ...}}
{{ LWJGL Version: 3.2.2 build 10}}
{{ ...}}
{{ 09:00:12.569}}
{{ Connecting to 178.48.157.92, 25565}}
{{ 09:00:35.920}}
{{ Loaded 0 advancements}}

Server log

[08:59:07] [main/ERROR]: Failed to load properties from file: server.properties
{{ [08:59:11] [main/WARN]: Ambiguity between arguments [teleport, destination] and [teleport, targets] with inputs: [Player, 0123, @e, dd12be42-52a9-4a91-a8a1-11c01849e498]}}
{{ [08:59:11] [main/WARN]: Ambiguity between arguments [teleport, location] and [teleport, destination] with inputs: [0.1 -0.5 .9, 0 0 0]}}
{{ [08:59:11] [main/WARN]: Ambiguity between arguments [teleport, location] and [teleport, targets] with inputs: [0.1 -0.5 .9, 0 0 0]}}
{{ [08:59:11] [main/WARN]: Ambiguity between arguments [teleport, targets] and [teleport, destination] with inputs: [Player, 0123, dd12be42-52a9-4a91-a8a1-11c01849e498]}}
{{ [08:59:11] [main/WARN]: Ambiguity between arguments [teleport, targets, location] and [teleport, targets, destination] with inputs: [0.1 -0.5 .9, 0 0 0]}}
{{ [08:59:12] [Server thread/INFO]: Starting minecraft server version 1.14.4}}
{{ [08:59:12] [Server thread/INFO]: Loading properties}}
{{ [08:59:12] [Server thread/INFO]: Default game type: SURVIVAL}}
{{ [08:59:12] [Server thread/INFO]: Generating keypair}}
{{ [08:59:12] [Server thread/INFO]: Starting Minecraft server on *:25565}}
{{ [08:59:12] [Server thread/INFO]: Using default channel type}}
{{ [08:59:13] [Server thread/INFO]: Preparing level "world"}}
{{ [08:59:13] [Server thread/INFO]: Reloading ResourceManager: Default}}
{{ [08:59:13] [Server thread/INFO]: Loaded 6 recipes}}
{{ [08:59:14] [Server thread/INFO]: Loaded 811 advancements}}
{{ [08:59:14] [Server thread/INFO]: Preparing start region for dimension minecraft:overworld}}
{{ [08:59:15] [Server thread/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 0%}}
{{ [08:59:15] [Server thread/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 0%}}
{{ [08:59:15] [Server thread/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 0%}}
{{ [08:59:17] [Server-Worker-5/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 83%}}
{{ [08:59:17] [Server-Worker-6/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 83%}}
{{ [08:59:17] [Server-Worker-3/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 83%}}
{{ [08:59:17] [Server-Worker-6/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 83%}}
{{ [08:59:17] [Server-Worker-6/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 87%}}
{{ [08:59:18] [Server-Worker-5/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 87%}}
{{ [08:59:18] [Server-Worker-3/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 92%}}
{{ [08:59:19] [Server-Worker-1/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 96%}}
{{ [08:59:19] [Server thread/INFO]: Time elapsed: 5137 ms}}
{{ [08:59:19] [Server thread/INFO]: Done (6.241s)! For help, type "help"}}
{{ [09:00:20] [User Authenticator #1/INFO]: UUID of player zombiecookies1 is 2526306d-29d9-4049-ae33-44fb1d290037}}
{{ [09:00:20] [Server thread/INFO]: zombiecookies1/192.168.0.1:55949 logged in with entity id 370 at (-102.8256638466174, 71.0, -216.79179220257734)}}
{{ [09:00:20] [Server thread/INFO]: zombiecookies1 joined the game}}
{{ [09:00:36] [Server thread/INFO]: zombiecookies1 lost connection: Timed out}}
{{ [09:00:36] [Server thread/INFO]: zombiecookies1 left the game}}
{{ [09:00:45] [Server thread/INFO]: Stopping server }}