Update: I've been using https://tecosaur.github.io/emacs-config/config.html#fontifying-inline-src for a while now and it seems to work out, there's just one thing I haven't been able to work out --- how to have font-lock apply to *multiple* inline src blocks on one line.
If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Once I've got this sorted I'll probably make a patch. -- Timothy