So, I know it’s silly but I was trying to hold the wires in place while completing the initial flash of esphome onto a sonoff s26.
Trouble is my wife pressed the flash button when I wasn’t quite ready and I slipped off part way through 
Now it just says access denied.
Is there a way to recover this or is it destined for the bin?
In my experience, such things happens during flashing, although not advisable, and it has not bricked my devices till now. what method are you using for flashing?
I was using the esp home flasher utility
most probably it should be some issues with the wiring. If you haven’t used 5v with the esp chip, then the chances of it getting bricked are less.