diff --git a/src/services/db/GitFileSystemService.ts b/src/services/db/GitFileSystemService.ts
index e81c20bf9..ea7ca8d42 100644
--- a/src/services/db/GitFileSystemService.ts
+++ b/src/services/db/GitFileSystemService.ts
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ export default class GitFileSystemService {
     repoName: string,
     filePath: string,
     isStaging: boolean
-  ): ResultAsync<string, GitFileSystemError> {
+  ): ResultAsync<string, GitFileSystemError | NotFoundError> {
     const efsVolPath = isStaging
       ? EFS_VOL_PATH_STAGING
       : EFS_VOL_PATH_STAGING_LITE
@@ -333,6 +333,14 @@ export default class GitFileSystemService {
         )
 
         if (error instanceof GitError) {
+          // NOTE: While some path can be potentially normalised by Git (eg. images//path.png),
+          // it is not guaranteed to exist in HEAD. We simply return a not found error in this case.
+          if (
+            error.message.includes("fatal: path") &&
+            error.message.includes("exists on disk, but not in 'HEAD'")
+          ) {
+            return new NotFoundError("File/Directory does not exist")
+          }
           return new GitFileSystemError("Unable to determine Git blob hash")
         }
 
@@ -1121,7 +1129,11 @@ export default class GitFileSystemService {
         )
       )
       .andThen((directoryContents) => {
-        const resultAsyncs = directoryContents.map((directoryItem) => {
+        const IGNORED_FILES = [".git"]
+        const filteredDirectoryContents = directoryContents.filter(
+          (directoryItem) => !IGNORED_FILES.includes(directoryItem.name)
+        )
+        const resultAsyncs = filteredDirectoryContents.map((directoryItem) => {
           const isDirectory = directoryItem.isDirectory()
           const { name } = directoryItem
           const path = directoryPath === "" ? name : `${directoryPath}/${name}`
diff --git a/src/services/db/__tests__/GitFileSystemService.spec.ts b/src/services/db/__tests__/GitFileSystemService.spec.ts
index c829879dc..f23d80192 100644
--- a/src/services/db/__tests__/GitFileSystemService.spec.ts
+++ b/src/services/db/__tests__/GitFileSystemService.spec.ts
@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@ const dirTree = {
   },
 }
 
+const dirTreeWithIgnoredFiles = {
+  ...dirTree,
+  ".git": "fake git directory",
+}
+
 describe("GitFileSystemService", () => {
   beforeEach(() => {
     mockFs({
@@ -172,6 +177,18 @@ describe("GitFileSystemService", () => {
 
       expect(result._unsafeUnwrapErr()).toBeInstanceOf(NotFoundError)
     })
+
+    it("should ignore .git folder", async () => {
+      mockFs({
+        [EFS_VOL_PATH_STAGING]: dirTreeWithIgnoredFiles,
+      })
+      const result = await GitFileSystemService.listDirectoryContents(
+        "fake-repo",
+        "fake-empty-dir",
+        DEFAULT_BRANCH
+      )
+      expect(result._unsafeUnwrap()).toHaveLength(0)
+    })
   })
 
   describe("listPaginatedDirectoryContents", () => {
@@ -661,6 +678,26 @@ describe("GitFileSystemService", () => {
 
       expect(result._unsafeUnwrapErr()).toBeInstanceOf(GitFileSystemError)
     })
+
+    it("should return not found error for a non-existent file", async () => {
+      MockSimpleGit.cwd.mockReturnValueOnce({
+        revparse: jest
+          .fn()
+          .mockRejectedValueOnce(
+            new GitError(
+              undefined,
+              `fatal: path //fake-media-file.png exists on disk, but not in 'HEAD'`
+            )
+          ),
+      })
+      const result = await GitFileSystemService.getGitBlobHash(
+        "fake-repo",
+        "fake-dir/%2ffake-media-file.png",
+        true
+      )
+
+      expect(result._unsafeUnwrapErr()).toBeInstanceOf(NotFoundError)
+    })
   })
 
   describe("getFilePathStats", () => {