diff --git a/app/models/workflow.rb b/app/models/workflow.rb
index 9616ba4e6..077a4b478 100644
--- a/app/models/workflow.rb
+++ b/app/models/workflow.rb
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class CannotDeletePublishedPublication < RuntimeError; end
         edition.reviewer = nil
       end
 
-      after_transition on: :publish do |edition, _transition|
+      before_transition on: :publish do |edition, _transition|
         edition.was_published
       end
 
diff --git a/test/models/workflow_test.rb b/test/models/workflow_test.rb
index 449b387fe..49034021b 100644
--- a/test/models/workflow_test.rb
+++ b/test/models/workflow_test.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 require "test_helper"
+require "minitest/autorun"
 
 class WorkflowTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
   def setup
@@ -521,4 +522,19 @@ def template_user_and_published_transaction
       assert_equal "schedule_for_publishing", edition.actions.last.request_type
     end
   end
+
+  context "#publish" do
+    setup do
+      @user = FactoryBot.create(:user, :govuk_editor)
+    end
+
+    should "not be in published state if the transition fails" do
+      edition = FactoryBot.create(:edition, state: "ready")
+      raise_exception = -> { raise "something went wrong with the publish transition" }
+      edition.stub :was_published, raise_exception do
+        assert_raises(RuntimeError) { publish(@user, edition, "this should fail") }
+      end
+      assert_equal "ready", edition.state
+    end
+  end
 end