diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
index 1796d984c37ae..34378683cd419 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
@@ -1563,14 +1563,12 @@ public boolean maybeRefresh(String source) throws EngineException {
     }
 
     final boolean refresh(String source, SearcherScope scope, boolean block) throws EngineException {
-        // we obtain a read lock here, since we don't want a flush to happen while we are refreshing
-        // since it flushes the index as well (though, in terms of concurrency, we are allowed to do it)
         // both refresh types will result in an internal refresh but only the external will also
         // pass the new reader reference to the external reader manager.
         final long localCheckpointBeforeRefresh = localCheckpointTracker.getProcessedCheckpoint();
         boolean refreshed;
-        try (ReleasableLock lock = readLock.acquire()) {
-            ensureOpen();
+        try {
+            // refresh does not need to hold readLock as ReferenceManager can handle correctly if the engine is closed in mid-way.
             if (store.tryIncRef()) {
                 // increment the ref just to ensure nobody closes the store during a refresh
                 try {
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
index 95bfa4a03c698..f1db530875aa9 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.breaker.NoneCircuitBreakerService;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.IndexSettingsModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.VersionUtils;
+import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 import org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert;
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
@@ -5761,7 +5762,7 @@ public void testMaxSeqNoInCommitUserData() throws Exception {
         assertMaxSeqNoInCommitUserData(engine);
     }
 
-    public void testRefreshAndFailEngineConcurrently() throws Exception {
+    public void testRefreshAndCloseEngineConcurrently() throws Exception {
         AtomicBoolean stopped = new AtomicBoolean();
         Semaphore indexedDocs = new Semaphore(0);
         Thread indexer = new Thread(() -> {
@@ -5791,7 +5792,11 @@ public void testRefreshAndFailEngineConcurrently() throws Exception {
         refresher.start();
         indexedDocs.acquire(randomIntBetween(1, 100));
         try {
-            engine.failEngine("test", new IOException("simulated error"));
+            if (randomBoolean()) {
+                engine.failEngine("test", new IOException("simulated error"));
+            } else {
+                engine.close();
+            }
         } finally {
             stopped.set(true);
             indexer.join();
@@ -6133,4 +6138,41 @@ public void afterRefresh(boolean didRefresh) {
             }
         }
     }
+
+    public void testRefreshDoesNotBlockClosing() throws Exception {
+        final CountDownLatch refreshStarted = new CountDownLatch(1);
+        final CountDownLatch engineClosed = new CountDownLatch(1);
+        final ReferenceManager.RefreshListener refreshListener = new ReferenceManager.RefreshListener() {
+
+            @Override
+            public void beforeRefresh() {
+                refreshStarted.countDown();
+                try {
+                    engineClosed.await();
+                } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+                    throw new AssertionError(e);
+                }
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void afterRefresh(boolean didRefresh) {
+                assertFalse(didRefresh);
+            }
+        };
+        try (Store store = createStore()) {
+            final EngineConfig config = config(defaultSettings, store, createTempDir(), newMergePolicy(), null,
+                refreshListener, null, null, engine.config().getCircuitBreakerService());
+            try (InternalEngine engine = createEngine(config)) {
+                if (randomBoolean()) {
+                    engine.index(indexForDoc(createParsedDoc("id", null)));
+                }
+                threadPool.executor(ThreadPool.Names.REFRESH).execute(() ->
+                    expectThrows(AlreadyClosedException.class,
+                        () -> engine.refresh("test", randomFrom(Engine.SearcherScope.values()), true)));
+                refreshStarted.await();
+                engine.close();
+                engineClosed.countDown();
+            }
+        }
+    }
 }