diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/StandaloneTestStrategy.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/StandaloneTestStrategy.java
index e266e7a23676d1..99a2cc3c2442e4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/StandaloneTestStrategy.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/StandaloneTestStrategy.java
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 
 package com.google.devtools.build.lib.exec;
 
+import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
+
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
 import com.google.common.base.Verify;
@@ -65,7 +67,6 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
-import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.TreeMap;
@@ -655,25 +656,7 @@ private TestAttemptResult runTestAttempt(
     try {
       spawnResults = resolver.exec(spawn, actionExecutionContext.withFileOutErr(fileOutErr));
       testResultDataBuilder = TestResultData.newBuilder();
-      if (actionExecutionContext
-          .getPathResolver()
-          .convertPath(resolvedPaths.getExitSafeFile())
-          .exists()) {
-        testResultDataBuilder
-            .setCachable(false)
-            .setTestPassed(false)
-            .setStatus(BlazeTestStatus.FAILED);
-        fileOutErr
-            .getErrorStream()
-            .write(
-                "-- Test exited prematurely (TEST_PREMATURE_EXIT_FILE exists) --\n"
-                    .getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
-      } else {
-        testResultDataBuilder
-            .setCachable(true)
-            .setTestPassed(true)
-            .setStatus(BlazeTestStatus.PASSED);
-      }
+      testResultDataBuilder.setCachable(true).setTestPassed(true).setStatus(BlazeTestStatus.PASSED);
     } catch (SpawnExecException e) {
       if (e.isCatastrophic()) {
         closeSuppressed(e, streamed);
@@ -699,6 +682,22 @@ private TestAttemptResult runTestAttempt(
     }
     long endTimeMillis = actionExecutionContext.getClock().currentTimeMillis();
 
+    // Check TEST_PREMATURE_EXIT_FILE file (and always delete it)
+    if (actionExecutionContext
+            .getPathResolver()
+            .convertPath(resolvedPaths.getExitSafeFile())
+            .delete()
+        && testResultDataBuilder.getTestPassed()) {
+      testResultDataBuilder
+          .setCachable(false)
+          .setTestPassed(false)
+          .setStatus(BlazeTestStatus.FAILED);
+      fileOutErr
+          .getErrorStream()
+          .write(
+              "-- Test exited prematurely (TEST_PREMATURE_EXIT_FILE exists) --\n".getBytes(UTF_8));
+    }
+
     // Do not override a more informative test failure with a generic failure due to the missing
     // shard file, which may have been caused by the test failing before the runner had a chance to
     // touch the file