The Apple ID "example@email.com" cannot be used to unlock this iPhone
Apple’s activation servers are generally instant. I’ve gone through the official process maybe 20 times in the past two years for work, and it has never not worked within 1 minutes let alone waiting 5.

Here is the official guide and link for the previous user to remove that lock:


https://support.apple.com/HT201365


Activation Lock is part of the iOS Activation status here:


https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/


So if you believe it’s failing, the instructions there are correct - contact Apple Support directly. The only thing I can add, is Apple doesn’t tell you the full email of the previous owner, so unless you have the passcode, you won’t really know which email is “example@email.com” above. 


How exactly are you connected to the internet from the device to try and unlock / activate it?
Do you actually know the email some other way or were you putting something hypothetical in the question?