We investigate the thermodynamic properties of the frustrated bilayer quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet at low temperatures in the vicinity of the saturation magnetic field. The low-energy degrees of freedom of the spin model are mapped onto a hard-square gas on a square lattice. We use exact diagonalization data for finite spin systems to check the validity of such a description. Using a classical Monte Carlo method we give a quantitative description of the thermodynamics of the spin model at low temperatures around the saturation field. The main peculiarity of the considered two-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet is related to a phase transition of the hard-square model on the square lattice, which belongs to the two-dimensional Ising model universality class. It manifests itself in a logarithmic (low-)temperature singularity of the specific heat of the spin system observed for magnetic fields just below the saturation field.