diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/CompileToDalvik.cs b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/CompileToDalvik.cs
index 0b81c372a5c..bccfd9dcae3 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/CompileToDalvik.cs
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/CompileToDalvik.cs
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ protected override string GenerateCommandLineCommands ()
 					cmd.AppendSwitchIfNotNull ("--main-dex-list=", MultiDexMainDexListFile);
 				}
 			}
-			cmd.AppendSwitchIfNotNull ("--output ", Path.GetDirectoryName (ClassesOutputDirectory));
+			cmd.AppendSwitchIfNotNull ("--output ", ClassesOutputDirectory);
 
 			using (var sw = new StreamWriter (path: inputListFile, append: false,
 					encoding: MonoAndroidHelper.UTF8withoutBOM)) {
diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/PackagingTest.cs b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/PackagingTest.cs
index 466c3e33287..15427edb555 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/PackagingTest.cs
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/PackagingTest.cs
@@ -677,5 +677,23 @@ public void CheckTheCorrectRuntimeAssemblyIsUsedFromNuget ()
 				Assert.IsTrue (xab.LastBuildOutput.ContainsText (expected), $"Build should be using {expected}");
 			}
 		}
+
+		[Test]
+		public void MissingDexFile ()
+		{
+			//NOTE: The trailing / breaks <CompileToDalvik />
+			var parameters = new [] { "_AndroidIntermediateJavaClassDirectory=obj/Debug/android/bin/classes/" };
+			var proj = new XamarinAndroidApplicationProject {
+				DexTool = "dx"
+			};
+			using (var b = CreateApkBuilder ()) {
+				Assert.IsTrue (b.Build (proj, parameters: parameters), "Build should have succeeded.");
+				var apk = Path.Combine (Root, b.ProjectDirectory,
+					proj.IntermediateOutputPath, "android", "bin", "UnnamedProject.UnnamedProject.apk");
+				using (var zip = ZipHelper.OpenZip (apk)) {
+					Assert.IsTrue (zip.ContainsEntry ("classes.dex"), "Apk should contain classes.dex");
+				}
+			}
+		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.Common.targets b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.Common.targets
index 0a02bb119db..ac13b3cd027 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.Common.targets
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.Common.targets
@@ -1024,6 +1024,7 @@ because xbuild doesn't support framework reference assemblies.
 	<MonoAndroidCodeBehindDir>$(IntermediateOutputPath)generated</MonoAndroidCodeBehindDir>
 	<MonoAndroidIntermediateResourceCache>$(IntermediateOutputPath)resourcecache</MonoAndroidIntermediateResourceCache>
 	<_AndroidIntermediateJavaSourceDirectory>$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\src\</_AndroidIntermediateJavaSourceDirectory>
+	<_AndroidIntermediateDexOutputDirectory>$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\bin\</_AndroidIntermediateDexOutputDirectory>
 	<_AndroidIntermediateJavaClassDirectory>$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\bin\classes\</_AndroidIntermediateJavaClassDirectory>
 	<_AndroidIntermediateClassesZip>$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\bin\classes.zip</_AndroidIntermediateClassesZip>
 	<_AndroidAotBinDirectory>$(IntermediateOutputPath)aot</_AndroidAotBinDirectory>
@@ -2274,8 +2275,7 @@ because xbuild doesn't support framework reference assemblies.
 <Target Name="_CompileDex"
 		DependsOnTargets="$(_BeforeCompileDex);$(_CompileDexDependsOn)">
 	<ItemGroup>
-		<_DexFile Include="$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\bin\dex\*.dex" />
-		<_DexFile Include="$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\bin\*.dex" />
+		<_DexFile Include="$(_AndroidIntermediateDexOutputDirectory)*.dex" />
 	</ItemGroup>
 </Target>
 
diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.D8.targets b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.D8.targets
index a92b6db9406..8744a3f43f4 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.D8.targets
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.D8.targets
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ Copyright (C) 2018 Xamarin. All rights reserved.
 
     <!-- remove existing dex files that may be previous multidex outputs. -->
     <ItemGroup>
-      <_DexesToDelete Include="$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\bin\*.dex" />
+      <_DexesToDelete Include="$(_AndroidIntermediateDexOutputDirectory)*.dex" />
     </ItemGroup>
     <Delete Files="@(_DexesToDelete)" />
 
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ Copyright (C) 2018 Xamarin. All rights reserved.
         JavaOptions="$(JavaOptions)"
         JarPath="$(AndroidR8JarPath)"
         AndroidManifestFile="$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\AndroidManifest.xml"
-        OutputDirectory="$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\bin"
+        OutputDirectory="$(_AndroidIntermediateDexOutputDirectory)"
         Debug="$(AndroidIncludeDebugSymbols)"
         JavaPlatformJarPath="$(JavaPlatformJarPath)"
         ClassesZip="$(_AndroidIntermediateClassesZip)"
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ Copyright (C) 2018 Xamarin. All rights reserved.
         JavaOptions="$(JavaOptions)"
         JarPath="$(AndroidR8JarPath)"
         AndroidManifestFile="$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\AndroidManifest.xml"
-        OutputDirectory="$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\bin"
+        OutputDirectory="$(_AndroidIntermediateDexOutputDirectory)"
         Debug="$(AndroidIncludeDebugSymbols)"
         JavaPlatformJarPath="$(JavaPlatformJarPath)"
         ClassesZip="$(_AndroidIntermediateClassesZip)"
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ Copyright (C) 2018 Xamarin. All rights reserved.
 
     <Touch Files="$(_AndroidStampDirectory)_CompileToDalvik.stamp" AlwaysCreate="true" />
     <ItemGroup>
-      <FileWrites Include="$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\bin\*.dex" />
+      <FileWrites Include="$(_AndroidIntermediateDexOutputDirectory)*.dex" />
     </ItemGroup>
 
   </Target>
diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.DX.targets b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.DX.targets
index 98159443d77..bb20d2b3aa5 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.DX.targets
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.DX.targets
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ Copyright (C) 2018 Xamarin. All rights reserved.
 
     <!-- remove existing dex files that may be previous multidex outputs. -->
     <ItemGroup>
-      <_DexesToDelete Include="$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\bin\*.dex" />
+      <_DexesToDelete Include="$(_AndroidIntermediateDexOutputDirectory)*.dex" />
     </ItemGroup>
     <Delete Files="@(_DexesToDelete)" />
 
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ Copyright (C) 2018 Xamarin. All rights reserved.
         JavaToolPath="$(JavaToolPath)"
         JavaMaximumHeapSize="$(JavaMaximumHeapSize)"
         JavaOptions="$(JavaOptions)"
-        ClassesOutputDirectory="$(_AndroidIntermediateJavaClassDirectory.TrimEnd('\'))"
+        ClassesOutputDirectory="$(_AndroidIntermediateDexOutputDirectory)"
         ClassesZip="$(_AndroidIntermediateClassesZip)"
         ToolPath="$(DxToolPath)"
         ToolExe="$(DxToolExe)"
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ Copyright (C) 2018 Xamarin. All rights reserved.
     />
     <Touch Files="$(_AndroidStampDirectory)_CompileToDalvik.stamp" AlwaysCreate="true" />
     <ItemGroup>
-      <FileWrites Include="$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\bin\*.dex" />
+      <FileWrites Include="$(_AndroidIntermediateDexOutputDirectory)*.dex" />
     </ItemGroup>
 
   </Target>