diff --git a/shotover-proxy/benches/windsock/aws/mod.rs b/shotover-proxy/benches/windsock/aws/mod.rs
index 2c693bb2a..6a54e5047 100644
--- a/shotover-proxy/benches/windsock/aws/mod.rs
+++ b/shotover-proxy/benches/windsock/aws/mod.rs
@@ -279,7 +279,8 @@ impl Ec2InstanceWithShotover {
             .push_file_from_bytes(topology.as_bytes(), Path::new("topology.yaml"))
             .await;
 
-        let (tx, mut rx) = tokio::sync::mpsc::unbounded_channel();
+        let (shutdown_tx, mut shutdown_rx) = tokio::sync::mpsc::unbounded_channel();
+        let (event_tx, mut event_rx) = tokio::sync::mpsc::unbounded_channel();
         tokio::task::spawn(async move {
             let mut receiver = self
             .instance
@@ -300,7 +301,7 @@ RUST_BACKTRACE=1 ./shotover-bin --config-file config.yaml --topology-file topolo
                                 if let Level::Error = event.level {
                                     tracing::error!("shotover error:\n    {event}");
                                 }
-                                if tx.send(event).is_err() {
+                                if event_tx.send(event).is_err() {
                                     return
                                 }
                             }
@@ -308,16 +309,21 @@ RUST_BACKTRACE=1 ./shotover-bin --config-file config.yaml --topology-file topolo
                             None => return,
                         }
                     },
-                    _ = tx.closed() => {
+                    _ = shutdown_rx.recv() => {
+                        // shutdown_tx is dropped, instructing us to shutdown
+                        // we MUST drop self before dropping event_tx to ensure that the Arc<Ec2InstanceWithShotover> clone is dropped before the task indicates that it has terminated.
+                        // Otherwise we may hit a race condition and fail the assertion that there is only one Arc<Ec2InstanceWithShotover> clone alive.
+                        std::mem::drop(self);
+                        std::mem::drop(event_tx);
                         return;
                     },
-                };
+                }
             }
         });
 
         // wait for shotover to startup
         loop {
-            let event = rx
+            let event = event_rx
                 .recv()
                 .await
                 .expect("Shotover shutdown before indicating that it had started");
@@ -328,23 +334,28 @@ RUST_BACKTRACE=1 ./shotover-bin --config-file config.yaml --topology-file topolo
                 break;
             }
         }
-        RunningShotover { rx }
+
+        RunningShotover {
+            shutdown_tx,
+            event_rx,
+        }
     }
 }
 
 pub struct RunningShotover {
-    rx: tokio::sync::mpsc::UnboundedReceiver<Event>,
+    shutdown_tx: tokio::sync::mpsc::UnboundedSender<()>,
+    event_rx: tokio::sync::mpsc::UnboundedReceiver<Event>,
 }
 
 impl RunningShotover {
     pub async fn shutdown(mut self) {
-        while let Ok(event) = self.rx.try_recv() {
+        // dropping shutdown_tx instructs the task to shutdown causing shotover to be terminated
+        std::mem::drop(self.shutdown_tx);
+
+        while let Some(event) = self.event_rx.recv().await {
             if let Level::Warn | Level::Error = event.level {
                 panic!("Received error/warn event from shotover:\n     {event}")
             }
         }
-
-        // dropping rx instructs the task to shutdown causing shotover to be terminated
-        std::mem::drop(self.rx)
     }
 }