diff --git a/build/Makefile b/build/Makefile
index cd30c01461..4c0a8cf3ff 100644
--- a/build/Makefile
+++ b/build/Makefile
@@ -387,6 +387,7 @@ install: LOG_LEVEL := "debug"
 install: EXTERNAL_IP ?= $(shell $(DOCKER_RUN) kubectl get services agones-allocator -n agones-system -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}')
 install: FEATURE_GATES ?= $(ALPHA_FEATURE_GATES)
 install: SERVICE_MONITOR := false
+install: CONTROLLER_SAFE_TO_EVICT := false # TODO(#2797): Remove when `SplitControllerAndExtensions` => safe-to-evict=true
 install: HELM_ARGS ?=
 install: $(ensure-build-image) install-custom-pull-secret
 	-$(DOCKER_RUN) bash -c '[[ $$(helm status agones -n agones-system --output json | jq -r ".info.status") =~ (failed|pending-.*) ]] && helm uninstall agones --namespace=agones-system || true'
@@ -403,6 +404,7 @@ install: $(ensure-build-image) install-custom-pull-secret
 		--set agones.featureGates=$(FEATURE_GATES) \
 		--set agones.allocator.service.loadBalancerIP=$(EXTERNAL_IP) \
 		--set agones.metrics.serviceMonitor.enabled=$(SERVICE_MONITOR) \
+		--set agones.controller.safeToEvict=$(CONTROLLER_SAFE_TO_EVICT) \
 		$(HELM_ARGS) \
 		agones $(mount_path)/install/helm/agones/
 
diff --git a/build/e2e-image/e2e.sh b/build/e2e-image/e2e.sh
index 9b372a5641..c155a87312 100755
--- a/build/e2e-image/e2e.sh
+++ b/build/e2e-image/e2e.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@ echo $FEATURES
 echo $REGISTRY
 set -e
 echo "installing current release"
-DOCKER_RUN= make install FEATURE_GATES='"'$FEATURES'"' REGISTRY='"'$REGISTRY'"'
+# TODO(#2797): Remove when `SplitControllerAndExtensions` => safe-to-evict=true
+DOCKER_RUN= make install FEATURE_GATES='"'$FEATURES'"' REGISTRY='"'$REGISTRY'"' CONTROLLER_SAFE_TO_EVICT=true
 echo "starting e2e test"
 DOCKER_RUN= make test-e2e ARGS=-parallel=16 E2E_USE_GOTESTSUM=true GOTESTSUM_VERBOSE=true FEATURE_GATES='"'$FEATURES'"'
 echo "completed e2e test"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build/e2e-image/entrypoint.sh b/build/e2e-image/entrypoint.sh
index 6f7b952106..6af536f327 100644
--- a/build/e2e-image/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/build/e2e-image/entrypoint.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@
 set -e
 FEATURES=$1
 TEST_CLUSTER_NAME=$2
-REGISTRY=$3
+TEST_CLUSTER_LOCATION=$3
+REGISTRY=$4
 
 echo $FEATURES
 export SHELL="/bin/bash"
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ then
         gcloud auth login
 fi
 gcloud container clusters get-credentials $TEST_CLUSTER_NAME \
-        --zone=us-west1-c --project=agones-images
+        --zone=${TEST_CLUSTER_LOCATION} --project=agones-images
 kubectl port-forward statefulset/consul-consul-server 8500:8500 &
 echo "Waiting consul port-forward to launch on 8500..."
 timeout 60 bash -c 'until printf "" 2>>/dev/null >>/dev/tcp/$0/$1; do sleep 1; done' 127.0.0.1 8500
diff --git a/cloudbuild.yaml b/cloudbuild.yaml
index 986a660bbc..49c985c84c 100644
--- a/cloudbuild.yaml
+++ b/cloudbuild.yaml
@@ -255,6 +255,7 @@ steps:
   args:
     - 'CustomFasSyncInterval=false&SDKGracefulTermination=false&StateAllocationFilter=false&PlayerAllocationFilter=true&PlayerTracking=true&ResetMetricsOnDelete=true&SafeToEvict=true&PodHostname=true&Example=true'
     - 'e2e-test-cluster'
+    - 'us-west1-c'
     - "${_REGISTRY}"
   id: e2e-feature-gates
   waitFor:
@@ -269,12 +270,46 @@ steps:
   args:
     - ''
     - 'e2e-test-cluster'
+    - 'us-west1-c'
     - "${_REGISTRY}"
   id: e2e-stable
   waitFor:
     - push-images
     - build-e2e
 
+#
+# Run the e2e tests on GKE Autopilot with FeatureGates inverted compared to Stable
+#
+# Keep in sync with (the inverse of) pkg/util/runtime/features.go:featureDefaults
+
+- name: 'e2e-runner'
+  args:
+    - 'CustomFasSyncInterval=false&SDKGracefulTermination=false&StateAllocationFilter=false&PlayerAllocationFilter=true&PlayerTracking=true&ResetMetricsOnDelete=true&SafeToEvict=true&PodHostname=true&Example=true'
+    - 'gke-autopilot-e2e-test-cluster-1-24'
+    - 'us-west1'
+    - "${_REGISTRY}"
+  id: e2e-feature-gates-gke-autopilot
+  allowFailure: true # for now, run the step but don't block on it
+  waitFor:
+    - push-images
+    - build-e2e
+
+#
+# Run the e2e tests on GKE Autopilot without FeatureGates, except SafeToEvict, which we need on Autopilot
+#
+
+- name: 'e2e-runner'
+  args:
+    - 'SafeToEvict=true'
+    - 'gke-autopilot-e2e-test-cluster-1-24'
+    - 'us-west1'
+    - "${_REGISTRY}"
+  id: e2e-stable-gke-autopilot
+  allowFailure: true # for now, run the step but don't block on it
+  waitFor:
+    - push-images
+    - build-e2e
+
 #
 # SDK conformance tests
 #