diff --git a/community/kernel/src/main/java/org/neo4j/unsafe/batchinsert/internal/BatchInserterImpl.java b/community/kernel/src/main/java/org/neo4j/unsafe/batchinsert/internal/BatchInserterImpl.java
index 418fff9178df..e0e49ddf3271 100644
--- a/community/kernel/src/main/java/org/neo4j/unsafe/batchinsert/internal/BatchInserterImpl.java
+++ b/community/kernel/src/main/java/org/neo4j/unsafe/batchinsert/internal/BatchInserterImpl.java
@@ -1106,7 +1106,6 @@ private void dumpConfiguration( Map<String,String> config, PrintStream out )
     // test-access
     NeoStores getNeoStores()
     {
-        forceFlushChanges();
         return neoStores;
     }
 
diff --git a/community/kernel/src/test/java/org/neo4j/kernel/impl/store/MetaDataStoreTest.java b/community/kernel/src/test/java/org/neo4j/kernel/impl/store/MetaDataStoreTest.java
index b45c568eabd6..d75738219cb3 100644
--- a/community/kernel/src/test/java/org/neo4j/kernel/impl/store/MetaDataStoreTest.java
+++ b/community/kernel/src/test/java/org/neo4j/kernel/impl/store/MetaDataStoreTest.java
@@ -400,15 +400,18 @@ public void setUpgradeTransactionMustBeAtomic() throws Throwable
             AtomicLong writeCount = new AtomicLong();
             AtomicLong fileReadCount = new AtomicLong();
             AtomicLong apiReadCount = new AtomicLong();
-            int limit = 10_000;
-            long endTime = currentTimeMillis() + SECONDS.toMillis( 1 );
+            int upperLimit = 10_000;
+            int lowerLimit = 100;
+            long endTime = currentTimeMillis() + SECONDS.toMillis( 10 );
 
             Race race = new Race();
             BooleanSupplier end = () ->
             {
-                boolean doContinue = writeCount.get() < limit ||
-                        fileReadCount.get() < limit || apiReadCount.get() < limit;
-                return !doContinue || currentTimeMillis() >= endTime;
+                boolean upperBoundReached = writeCount.get() >= upperLimit &&
+                        fileReadCount.get() >= upperLimit && apiReadCount.get() >= upperLimit;
+                boolean lowerBoundReached = writeCount.get() >= lowerLimit &&
+                        fileReadCount.get() >= lowerLimit && apiReadCount.get() >= lowerLimit;
+                return !upperBoundReached || (currentTimeMillis() >= endTime && lowerBoundReached);
             };
             // writers
             race.addContestants( 3, until( end, () -> {
@@ -481,13 +484,17 @@ public void transactionCommittedMustBeAtomic() throws Throwable
             AtomicLong writeCount = new AtomicLong();
             AtomicLong fileReadCount = new AtomicLong();
             AtomicLong apiReadCount = new AtomicLong();
-            long endTime = currentTimeMillis() + SECONDS.toMillis( 1 );
+            int upperLimit = 10_000;
+            int lowerLimit = 100;
+            long endTime = currentTimeMillis() + SECONDS.toMillis( 10 );
 
             BooleanSupplier end = () ->
             {
-                boolean doContinue = writeCount.get() < 10_000 ||
-                        fileReadCount.get() < 10_000 || apiReadCount.get() < 10_000;
-                return !doContinue || currentTimeMillis() >= endTime;
+                boolean upperBoundReached = writeCount.get() >= upperLimit &&
+                        fileReadCount.get() >= upperLimit && apiReadCount.get() >= upperLimit;
+                boolean lowerBoundReached = writeCount.get() >= lowerLimit &&
+                        fileReadCount.get() >= lowerLimit && apiReadCount.get() >= lowerLimit;
+                return !upperBoundReached || (currentTimeMillis() >= endTime && lowerBoundReached);
             };
             Race race = new Race();
             race.addContestants( 3, until( end, () ->
@@ -534,13 +541,17 @@ public void transactionClosedMustBeAtomic() throws Throwable
             AtomicLong writeCount = new AtomicLong();
             AtomicLong fileReadCount = new AtomicLong();
             AtomicLong apiReadCount = new AtomicLong();
-            long endTime = currentTimeMillis() + SECONDS.toMillis( 1 );
+            int upperLimit = 10_000;
+            int lowerLimit = 100;
+            long endTime = currentTimeMillis() + SECONDS.toMillis( 10 );
 
             BooleanSupplier end = () ->
             {
-                boolean doContinue = writeCount.get() < 10_000 ||
-                        fileReadCount.get() < 10_000 || apiReadCount.get() < 10_000;
-                return !doContinue || currentTimeMillis() >= endTime;
+                boolean upperBoundReached = writeCount.get() >= upperLimit &&
+                        fileReadCount.get() >= upperLimit && apiReadCount.get() >= upperLimit;
+                boolean lowerBoundReached = writeCount.get() >= lowerLimit &&
+                        fileReadCount.get() >= lowerLimit && apiReadCount.get() >= lowerLimit;
+                return !upperBoundReached || (currentTimeMillis() >= endTime && lowerBoundReached);
             };
             Race race = new Race();
             race.addContestants( 3, until( end, () -> {
diff --git a/community/kernel/src/test/java/org/neo4j/unsafe/batchinsert/internal/BatchInsertTest.java b/community/kernel/src/test/java/org/neo4j/unsafe/batchinsert/internal/BatchInsertTest.java
index f673a9c3219a..e3e30669c8ae 100644
--- a/community/kernel/src/test/java/org/neo4j/unsafe/batchinsert/internal/BatchInsertTest.java
+++ b/community/kernel/src/test/java/org/neo4j/unsafe/batchinsert/internal/BatchInsertTest.java
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ public static void startGlobalInserter() throws IOException
         // Global inserter can be used in tests which simply want to verify "local" behaviour,
         // e.g. create a node with some properties and read them back.
         globalInserter = BatchInserters.inserter(
-                TestDirectory.testDataDirectoryOf( REAL_FS, BatchInsertTest.class, true ),
+                TestDirectory.testDataDirectoryOf( fs, BatchInsertTest.class, true ),
                 fs, stringMap() );
     }
 
@@ -1172,7 +1172,7 @@ public void mustSplitUpRelationshipChainsWhenCreatingDenseNodes() throws Excepti
             }
         }
 
-        NeoStores neoStores = ((BatchInserterImpl) inserter).getNeoStores();
+        NeoStores neoStores = getFlushedNeoStores( inserter );
         NodeRecord record = getRecord( neoStores.getNodeStore(), node1 );
         assertTrue( "Node " + record + " should have been dense", record.isDense() );
     }
@@ -1204,7 +1204,7 @@ public void shouldNotCreateSameLabelTwiceOnSameNode() throws Exception
                 label( "Item" ) );
 
         // THEN
-        NodeStore nodeStore = ((BatchInserterImpl) inserter).getNeoStores().getNodeStore();
+        NodeStore nodeStore = getFlushedNeoStores( inserter ).getNodeStore();
         NodeRecord node = nodeStore.getRecord( nodeId, nodeStore.newRecord(), NORMAL );
         NodeLabels labels = NodeLabelsField.parseLabelsField( node );
         long[] labelIds = labels.get( nodeStore );
@@ -1224,7 +1224,7 @@ public void shouldSortLabelIdsWhenGetOrCreate() throws Exception
                 label( "DD" ), label( "EE" ), label( "FF" ) );
 
         // THEN
-        NodeStore nodeStore = ((BatchInserterImpl) inserter).getNeoStores().getNodeStore();
+        NodeStore nodeStore = getFlushedNeoStores( inserter ).getNodeStore();
         NodeRecord node = nodeStore.getRecord( nodeId, nodeStore.newRecord(), RecordLoad.NORMAL );
         NodeLabels labels = NodeLabelsField.parseLabelsField( node );
 
@@ -1569,7 +1569,13 @@ private Node getNodeInTx( long nodeId, GraphDatabaseService db )
 
     private void forceFlush( BatchInserter inserter )
     {
-        ((BatchInserterImpl)inserter).getNeoStores();
+        ((BatchInserterImpl)inserter).forceFlushChanges();
+    }
+
+    private NeoStores getFlushedNeoStores( BatchInserter inserter )
+    {
+        forceFlush( inserter );
+        return ((BatchInserterImpl) inserter).getNeoStores();
     }
 
     private enum Labels implements Label