> Can we be sure that we won't be penalised for the keyboard issue until
>at least that point in the competition?

As long as goals don't involve some form of "gameplay enjoyment", keyboard isn't going to be a scoring issue, but beyond that, WASD key locations on azerty are just located weirdly enough to make controls hardly usable... I wouldn't make it a critical scoring flaw (willingly at least), but it might cause me to miss out on things, or struggle more than needs be... :?

If other controler(s) are supported (like a gamepad, or mouse, or joystick) and keyboard is just an option amongst many, that's less of an issue.

> I only ask because I'm really stretched time wise trying to hit Stage 4,
> but I do have keyboard configuration penciled in for stage 5 (IIRC).

The issue is only really there for keys that must be in a particular configuration (like WASD), and in that case, the simple code mod suggested can take care of it.
For other keys, there is no real need for configuration (especially if you detect by virtual key codes rather than ascii characters).