diff --git a/eventuate-log-leveldb/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/eventuate-log-leveldb/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index d4886903..ab6ab72d 100644
--- a/eventuate-log-leveldb/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/eventuate-log-leveldb/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -18,5 +18,10 @@ eventuate {
     # Delay between two tries to physically delete all requested events while
     # keeping those that are not yet replicated.
     deletion-retry-delay = 1m
+
+    # The maximum duration to wait for outstanding iterators being closed during
+    # shutdown. If there are iterators still left after this period closing will
+    # be aborted with an exception and the LevelDB handle will not be closed.
+    iterator-close-wait-max = 30s
   }
 }
diff --git a/eventuate-log-leveldb/src/main/scala/com/rbmhtechnology/eventuate/log/leveldb/LeveldbEventLog.scala b/eventuate-log-leveldb/src/main/scala/com/rbmhtechnology/eventuate/log/leveldb/LeveldbEventLog.scala
index 376cdb62..37e80c04 100644
--- a/eventuate-log-leveldb/src/main/scala/com/rbmhtechnology/eventuate/log/leveldb/LeveldbEventLog.scala
+++ b/eventuate-log-leveldb/src/main/scala/com/rbmhtechnology/eventuate/log/leveldb/LeveldbEventLog.scala
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package com.rbmhtechnology.eventuate.log.leveldb
 import java.io._
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference
 
 import akka.actor._
 import akka.serialization.SerializationExtension
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@ import com.typesafe.config.Config
 import org.fusesource.leveldbjni.JniDBFactory._
 import org.iq80.leveldb._
 
+import scala.annotation.tailrec
 import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
 import scala.collection.immutable.Seq
 import scala.concurrent.Future
@@ -51,6 +53,9 @@ class LeveldbEventLogSettings(config: Config) extends EventLogSettings {
   val deletionBatchSize: Int =
     config.getInt("eventuate.log.leveldb.deletion-batch-size")
 
+  val closeWaitMax: FiniteDuration =
+    config.getDuration("eventuate.log.leveldb.iterator-close-wait-max", TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS).millis
+
   val initRetryDelay: FiniteDuration =
     Duration.Zero
 
@@ -187,47 +192,25 @@ class LeveldbEventLog(id: String, prefix: String) extends EventLog(id) with With
   }
 
   private def withIterator[R](body: DBIterator => R): R = {
-    val so = snapshotOptions()
-    val iter = leveldb.iterator(so)
-    addActiveIterator(iter)
-    try {
-      body(iter)
-    } finally {
-      iter.close()
-      removeActiveIterator(iter)
-      so.snapshot().close()
-    }
+    val iter = allocateIterator()
+    try body(iter.iterator)
+    finally iter.close()
   }
 
   private def withEventIterator[R](from: Long, classifier: Int)(body: EventIterator => R): R = {
     val iter = eventIterator(from, classifier)
-    try {
-      body(iter)
-    } finally {
-      iter.close()
-    }
+    try body(iter)
+    finally iter.close()
   }
 
   private class EventIterator(from: Long, classifier: Int) extends Iterator[DurableEvent] with Closeable {
-    val opts = snapshotOptions()
-
-    val iter1 = leveldb.iterator(opts)
-    val iter2 = iter1.asScala.takeWhile(entry => eventKey(entry.getKey).classifier == classifier).map(entry => event(entry.getValue))
-
-    addActiveIterator(iter1)
-    iter1.seek(eventKeyBytes(classifier, from))
+    val iter1 = allocateIterator()
+    val iter2 = iter1.iterator.asScala.takeWhile(entry => eventKey(entry.getKey).classifier == classifier).map(entry => event(entry.getValue))
+    iter1.iterator.seek(eventKeyBytes(classifier, from))
 
-    override def hasNext: Boolean =
-      iter2.hasNext
-
-    override def next(): DurableEvent =
-      iter2.next()
-
-    override def close(): Unit = {
-      iter1.close()
-      removeActiveIterator(iter1)
-      opts.snapshot().close()
-    }
+    override def hasNext: Boolean = iter2.hasNext
+    override def next(): DurableEvent = iter2.next()
+    override def close(): Unit = iter1.close()
   }
 
   private def eventBytes(e: DurableEvent): Array[Byte] =
@@ -253,12 +236,9 @@ class LeveldbEventLog(id: String, prefix: String) extends EventLog(id) with With
   }
 
   override def postStop(): Unit = {
-    while (activeIterators.get.nonEmpty) {
-      // Wait a bit for all concurrent read iterators to be closed
-      // See https://github.com/RBMHTechnology/eventuate/issues/87
-      Thread.sleep(500)
-    }
+    waitForOutstandingIterators()
     leveldb.close()
+
     super.postStop()
   }
 
@@ -269,26 +249,69 @@ class LeveldbEventLog(id: String, prefix: String) extends EventLog(id) with With
   //  this event log actor, mainly during integration tests.
   // -------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-  import java.util.concurrent.atomic._
-  import java.util.function._
-
-  private val activeIterators = new AtomicReference[Set[DBIterator]](Set())
-
-  private val addAccumulator = new BinaryOperator[Set[DBIterator]] {
-    override def apply(acc: Set[DBIterator], u: Set[DBIterator]): Set[DBIterator] =
-      acc + u.head
+  private trait ManagedIterator {
+    def iterator: DBIterator
+    def close(): Unit
   }
 
-  private val removeAccumulator = new BinaryOperator[Set[DBIterator]] {
-    override def apply(acc: Set[DBIterator], u: Set[DBIterator]): Set[DBIterator] =
-      acc - u.head
+  // invariants:
+  //  - after finished changed to true, outstandingIterators will never be increased above 0 again
+
+  private case class State(finishing: Boolean, outstandingIterators: Int)
+  private val state = new AtomicReference[State](State(false, 0))
+
+  @tailrec private def waitForOutstandingIterators(): Unit = {
+    val cur = state.get
+    if (!state.compareAndSet(cur, cur.copy(finishing = true)))
+      waitForOutstandingIterators()
+    else {
+      val start = System.nanoTime()
+      // spin until all outstanding iterators have been given back
+      while (state.get.outstandingIterators > 0 && (System.nanoTime() - start) < settings.closeWaitMax.toNanos) Thread.sleep(100)
+      if (state.get.outstandingIterators > 0)
+        throw new RuntimeException("Outstanding iterators were not closed after " +
+          s"eventuate.log.leveldb.iterator-close-wait-max = ${settings.closeWaitMax} either because of " +
+          "long running operations or because iterator handles were not closed.")
+    }
   }
 
-  def addActiveIterator(iter: DBIterator): Unit =
-    activeIterators.accumulateAndGet(Set(iter), addAccumulator)
+  private def allocateIterator(): ManagedIterator = {
+    def doAllocate(): ManagedIterator = {
+      val opts = snapshotOptions()
+      val it = leveldb.iterator(opts)
+
+      new ManagedIterator {
+        def iterator: DBIterator = it
+
+        var closed = false
+        def close(): Unit =
+          if (!closed) {
+            it.close()
+            opts.snapshot().close()
+            decreaseCounter()
+            closed = true
+          }
+      }
+    }
+
+    @tailrec def decreaseCounter(): Unit = {
+      val cur = state.get
+      if (!state.compareAndSet(cur, cur.copy(outstandingIterators = cur.outstandingIterators - 1)))
+        decreaseCounter()
+    }
 
-  def removeActiveIterator(iter: DBIterator): Unit =
-    activeIterators.accumulateAndGet(Set(iter), removeAccumulator)
+    @tailrec def rec(): ManagedIterator =
+      state.get match {
+        case s @ State(false, n) =>
+          if (!state.compareAndSet(s, s.copy(outstandingIterators = n + 1)))
+            rec()
+          else
+            doAllocate()
+        case State(true, _) => throw new RuntimeException("Cannot create iterators while shutting down!")
+      }
+
+    rec()
+  }
 }
 
 object LeveldbEventLog {