An apparatus coupled to a single-wire serial bus through a line driver is configured to determine that a first sequence start condition (SSC) has been initiated when the single-wire serial bus transitions from first to second signaling states. The line driver drives the single-wire serial bus to the first signaling state after a first duration to complete the first SSC, and an arbitration window with plural timeslots is provided when the line driver presents a high impedance to the single-wire serial bus after the first SSC. The line driver drives the single-wire serial bus to the first signaling state in each timeslot of the plural timeslots in which the single-wire serial bus is driven to the second signaling state. After the arbitration window has expired, the apparatus transmits a second SSC and a Manchester encoded command addressed to at least one slave device.