diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/ml/inference/base.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/ml/inference/base.py
index b075f22f15be..5cc38cd842c9 100644
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/ml/inference/base.py
+++ b/sdks/python/apache_beam/ml/inference/base.py
@@ -1795,16 +1795,6 @@ def process(
       side input is empty or the model has not been updated, the method
       simply runs inference on the batch of data.
     """
-    # Do garbage collection of old models before starting inference.
-    tags_to_gc = self._model_metadata.get_tags_for_garbage_collection()
-    if len(tags_to_gc) > 0:
-      for unprefixed_tag in tags_to_gc:
-        for tag in _get_tags_for_copies(unprefixed_tag,
-                                        self._model_handler.model_copies()):
-          multi_process_shared.MultiProcessShared(lambda: None,
-                                                  tag).unsafe_hard_delete()
-      self._model_metadata.mark_tags_deleted(tags_to_gc)
-
     if not si_model_metadata:
       if (not self._model_metadata.is_valid_tag(self._cur_tag) or
           self._model is None):
@@ -1834,6 +1824,16 @@ def finish_bundle(self):
     if self._metrics_collector:
       self._metrics_collector.update_metrics_with_cache()
 
+    # Do garbage collection of old models
+    tags_to_gc = self._model_metadata.get_tags_for_garbage_collection()
+    if len(tags_to_gc) > 0:
+      for unprefixed_tag in tags_to_gc:
+        for tag in _get_tags_for_copies(unprefixed_tag,
+                                        self._model_handler.model_copies()):
+          multi_process_shared.MultiProcessShared(lambda: None,
+                                                  tag).unsafe_hard_delete()
+      self._model_metadata.mark_tags_deleted(tags_to_gc)
+
 
 def _is_darwin() -> bool:
   return sys.platform == 'darwin'