diff --git a/docs/manpage.rst b/docs/manpage.rst
index 4ad5176e1d..86365b6a77 100644
--- a/docs/manpage.rst
+++ b/docs/manpage.rst
@@ -737,17 +737,15 @@ If no node can be selected, the test will be marked as a failure with an appropr
 
    Available values are the following:
 
-   - ``all``: Flexible tests will be assigned as many tasks as needed in order to span over *all* the nodes of the node pool.
-   - ``STATE``: Flexible tests will be assigned as many tasks as needed in order to span over the nodes that are currently in state ``STATE``.
-     Querying of the node state and submission of the test job are two separate steps not executed atomically.
-     It is therefore possible that the number of tasks assigned does not correspond to the actual nodes in the given state.
-
-     If this option is not specified, the default allocation policy for flexible tests is 'idle'.
-   - Any positive integer: Flexible tests will be assigned as many tasks as needed in order to span over the specified number of nodes from the node pool.
+   - Any of the values supported by the :option:`--distribute` option.
+   - Any positive integer: flexible tests will be assigned as many tasks as needed in order to span over the specified number of nodes from the node pool.
 
    .. versionchanged:: 3.1
       It is now possible to pass an arbitrary node state as a flexible node allocation parameter.
 
+   .. versionchanged:: 4.6
+      Align the state selection with the :option:`--distribute` option.
+      See the :option:`--distribute` for more details.
 
 ---------------------------------------
 Options controlling ReFrame environment
@@ -867,10 +865,12 @@ The way the tests are generated and how they interact with the test filtering op
 
    You can optionally specify the state of the nodes to consider when distributing the test through the ``NODESTATE`` argument:
 
-   - ``all``: Tests will run on all the nodes of their respective valid partitions regardless of the nodes' state.
-   - ``idle``: Tests will run on all *idle* nodes of their respective valid partitions.
-   - ``NODESTATE``: Tests will run on all the nodes in state ``NODESTATE`` of their respective valid partitions.
-     If ``NODESTATE`` is not specified, ``idle`` will be assumed.
+   - ``all``: Tests will run on all the nodes of their respective valid partitions regardless of the node state.
+   - ``avail``: Tests will run on all the nodes of their respective valid partitions that are available for running jobs.
+     Note that if a node is currently allocated to another job it is still considered as "available."
+   - ``NODESTATE``: Tests will run on all the nodes of their respective valid partitions that are exclusively in state ``NODESTATE``.
+     aIf ``NODESTATE`` is not specified, ``idle`` is assumed.
+   - ``NODESTATE*``: Tests will run on all the nodes of their respective valid partitions that are at least in state ``NODESTATE``.
 
    The state of the nodes will be determined once, before beginning the
    execution of the tests, so it might be different at the time the tests are actually submitted.
@@ -881,9 +881,20 @@ The way the tests are generated and how they interact with the test filtering op
    .. note::
       Distributing tests with dependencies is not supported, but you can distribute tests that use fixtures.
 
+   .. note::
+      This option is supported only for the ``local``, ``squeue``, ``slurm`` and ``ssh`` scheduler backends.
 
    .. versionadded:: 3.11.0
 
+   .. versionadded:: 4.6
+
+      The ``avail`` argument is introduced and the ability to differentiate between exclusive and non-exclusive node states.
+
+   .. versionchanged:: 4.6
+
+      ``--distribute=NODESTATE`` now matches nodes that are exclusively in state ``NODESTATE``, so that the default ``--distribute=idle`` will match only the Slurm nodes that are in the ``IDLE`` state exclusively.
+      To achieve the previous behaviour, you should use ``--distribute=idle*``.
+
 
 .. option:: -P, --parameterize=[TEST.]VAR=VAL0,VAL1,...
 
diff --git a/reframe/core/schedulers/__init__.py b/reframe/core/schedulers/__init__.py
index bcd5003828..483c8aff44 100644
--- a/reframe/core/schedulers/__init__.py
+++ b/reframe/core/schedulers/__init__.py
@@ -153,6 +153,37 @@ def log(self, message, level=DEBUG2):
         getlogger().log(level, f'[S] {self.registered_name}: {message}')
 
 
+def filter_nodes_by_state(nodelist, state):
+    '''Filter nodes by their state
+
+    :arg nodelist: List of :class:`Node` instances to filter.
+    :arg state: The state of the nodes.
+        If ``all``, the initial list is returned untouched.
+        If ``avail``, only the available nodes will be returned.
+        All other values are interpretes as a state string.
+        State match is exclusive unless the ``*`` is added at the end of the
+        state string.
+    :returns: the filtered node list
+    '''
+    if state == 'avail':
+        nodelist = {n for n in nodelist if n.is_avail()}
+    elif state != 'all':
+        if state.endswith('*'):
+            # non-exclusive stat match
+            state = state[:-1]
+            nodelist = {
+                n for n in nodelist if n.in_state(state)
+            }
+        else:
+            nodelist = {
+                n for n in nodelist if n.in_statex(state)
+            }
+
+    return nodelist
+    nodes[part.fullname] = [n.name for n in nodelist]
+
+
+
 class Job(jsonext.JSONSerializable, metaclass=JobMeta):
     '''A job descriptor.
 
@@ -568,16 +599,10 @@ def guess_num_tasks(self):
         )
 
         # Try to guess the number of tasks now
+        available_nodes = filter_nodes_by_state(
+            available_nodes, self.sched_flex_alloc_nodes.lower()
+        )
         available_nodes = self.scheduler.filternodes(self, available_nodes)
-        if self.sched_flex_alloc_nodes.casefold() != 'all':
-            available_nodes = {n for n in available_nodes
-                               if n.in_state(self.sched_flex_alloc_nodes)}
-            getlogger().debug(
-                f'[F] Selecting nodes in state '
-                f'{self.sched_flex_alloc_nodes!r}: '
-                f'available nodes now: {len(available_nodes)}'
-            )
-
         return len(available_nodes) * num_tasks_per_node
 
     def submit(self):
@@ -619,6 +644,15 @@ class Node(abc.ABC):
     :meta private:
     '''
 
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def in_statex(self, state):
+        '''Returns whether the node is in the give state exclusively.
+
+            :arg state: The node state.
+            :returns: :class:`True` if the nodes is exclusively
+                in the requested state.
+        '''
+
     @abc.abstractmethod
     def in_state(self, state):
         '''Returns whether the node is in the given state.
@@ -628,14 +662,32 @@ def in_state(self, state):
                      :class:`False` otherwise.
         '''
 
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def is_avail(self):
+        '''Check whether the node is available for scheduling jobs.'''
+
+    def is_down(self):
+        '''Check whether node is down.
+
+        This is the inverse of :func:`is_avail`.
+        '''
+        return not self.is_avail()
+
 
 class AlwaysIdleNode(Node):
     def __init__(self, name):
         self._name = name
+        self._state = 'idle'
 
     @property
     def name(self):
         return self._name
 
+    def is_avail(self):
+        return True
+
+    def in_statex(self, state):
+        return state.lower() == self._state
+
     def in_state(self, state):
-        return state.casefold() == 'idle'
+        return self.in_statex(state)
diff --git a/reframe/core/schedulers/local.py b/reframe/core/schedulers/local.py
index f9785605f4..5e41491f0f 100644
--- a/reframe/core/schedulers/local.py
+++ b/reframe/core/schedulers/local.py
@@ -81,10 +81,10 @@ def emit_preamble(self, job):
         return []
 
     def allnodes(self):
-        return [_LocalNode(socket.gethostname())]
+        return [sched.AlwaysIdleNode(socket.gethostname())]
 
     def filternodes(self, job, nodes):
-        return [_LocalNode(socket.gethostname())]
+        return [sched.AlwaysIdleNode(socket.gethostname())]
 
     def _kill_all(self, job):
         '''Send SIGKILL to all the processes of the spawned job.'''
@@ -202,15 +202,3 @@ def _poll_job(self, job):
         elif os.WIFSIGNALED(status):
             job._state = 'FAILURE'
             job._signal = os.WTERMSIG(status)
-
-
-class _LocalNode(sched.Node):
-    def __init__(self, name):
-        self._name = name
-
-    @property
-    def name(self):
-        return self._name
-
-    def in_state(self, state):
-        return state.casefold() == 'idle'
diff --git a/reframe/core/schedulers/slurm.py b/reframe/core/schedulers/slurm.py
index c741f0fc70..04baa4cdd8 100644
--- a/reframe/core/schedulers/slurm.py
+++ b/reframe/core/schedulers/slurm.py
@@ -659,8 +659,15 @@ def in_state(self, state):
         return all([self._states >= set(state.upper().split('+')),
                     self._partitions, self._active_features, self._states])
 
+    def in_statex(self, state):
+        return self._states == set(state.upper().split('+'))
+
+    def is_avail(self):
+        return any(self.in_statex(s)
+                   for s in ('ALLOCATED', 'COMPLETING', 'IDLE'))
+
     def is_down(self):
-        return bool({'DOWN', 'DRAIN', 'MAINT', 'NO_RESPOND'} & self._states)
+        return not self.is_avail()
 
     @property
     def active_features(self):
diff --git a/reframe/frontend/cli.py b/reframe/frontend/cli.py
index 29488259cd..5a3676b7d2 100644
--- a/reframe/frontend/cli.py
+++ b/reframe/frontend/cli.py
@@ -513,7 +513,7 @@ def main():
 
     # Test generation options
     testgen_options.add_argument(
-        '--distribute', action='store', metavar='{all|STATE}',
+        '--distribute', action='store', metavar='{all|avail|STATE}',
         nargs='?', const='idle',
         help=('Distribute the selected single-node jobs on every node that'
               'is in STATE (default: "idle"')
@@ -1150,7 +1150,8 @@ def _case_failed(t):
             testcases = testcases_all
 
         if options.distribute:
-            node_map = getallnodes(options.distribute, parsed_job_options)
+            node_map = getallnodes(options.distribute.lower(),
+                                   parsed_job_options)
 
             # Remove the job options that begin with '--nodelist' and '-w', so
             # that they do not override those set from the distribute feature.
diff --git a/reframe/frontend/testgenerators.py b/reframe/frontend/testgenerators.py
index 66bf270eda..bae4cc4f16 100644
--- a/reframe/frontend/testgenerators.py
+++ b/reframe/frontend/testgenerators.py
@@ -12,12 +12,12 @@
 from reframe.core.fields import make_convertible
 from reframe.core.logging import getlogger, time_function
 from reframe.core.meta import make_test
-from reframe.core.schedulers import Job
+from reframe.core.schedulers import Job, filter_nodes_by_state
 from reframe.frontend.executors import generate_testcases
 
 
 @time_function
-def getallnodes(state='all', jobs_cli_options=None):
+def getallnodes(state, jobs_cli_options=None):
     rt = runtime.runtime()
     nodes = {}
     for part in rt.system.partitions:
@@ -36,14 +36,7 @@ def getallnodes(state='all', jobs_cli_options=None):
             f'Total available nodes for {part.name}: {len(available_nodes)}'
         )
 
-        if state.casefold() != 'all':
-            available_nodes = {n for n in available_nodes
-                               if n.in_state(state)}
-            getlogger().debug(
-                f'[F] Selecting nodes in state {state!r}: '
-                f'available nodes now: {len(available_nodes)}'
-            )
-
+        available_nodes = filter_nodes_by_state(available_nodes, state)
         nodes[part.fullname] = [n.name for n in available_nodes]
 
     return nodes