I was running a game to see just how long it takes to completely annihilate the human player.
It took a human player 44'18'', where then just 3'13'' later I was able to rise a max of 1000 biters (the max) (both times without pollution assistance (using pollution I was able to reach a force of 1000 biters in 15 minutes)).
This is impossible to defend against, unless you are Nefrums (current world record holder) who just was getting started on oil when the wave advances.

I suggest that there is a timer set before the hive can attack the player (this would be adjustable in the mod section)
suggested default: 5 hours