diff --git a/pkg/scheduler/partition.go b/pkg/scheduler/partition.go
index 8bf2786e4..f4bde125d 100644
--- a/pkg/scheduler/partition.go
+++ b/pkg/scheduler/partition.go
@@ -685,6 +685,9 @@ func (pc *PartitionContext) removeNodeAllocations(node *objects.Node) ([]*object
 				zap.String("nodeID", node.NodeID))
 			continue
 		}
+		// Processing a removal while in the Completing state could race with the state change.
+		// Retrieve the queue early before a possible race.
+		queue := app.GetQueue()
 		// check for an inflight replacement.
 		if alloc.GetReleaseCount() != 0 {
 			release := alloc.GetFirstRelease()
@@ -706,7 +709,7 @@ func (pc *PartitionContext) removeNodeAllocations(node *objects.Node) ([]*object
 					// The reverse case is handled during allocation.
 					if delta.HasNegativeValue() {
 						// this looks incorrect but the delta is negative and the result will be a real decrease
-						err := app.GetQueue().IncAllocatedResource(delta, false)
+						err := queue.IncAllocatedResource(delta, false)
 						// this should not happen as we really decrease the value
 						if err != nil {
 							log.Log(log.SchedPartition).Warn("unexpected failure during queue update: replacing placeholder",
@@ -761,16 +764,16 @@ func (pc *PartitionContext) removeNodeAllocations(node *objects.Node) ([]*object
 				zap.String("nodeID", node.NodeID))
 			continue
 		}
-		if err := app.GetQueue().DecAllocatedResource(alloc.GetAllocatedResource()); err != nil {
+		if err := queue.DecAllocatedResource(alloc.GetAllocatedResource()); err != nil {
 			log.Log(log.SchedPartition).Warn("failed to release resources from queue",
 				zap.String("appID", alloc.GetApplicationID()),
 				zap.Error(err))
 		} else {
-			metrics.GetQueueMetrics(app.GetQueuePath()).IncReleasedContainer()
+			metrics.GetQueueMetrics(queue.GetQueuePath()).IncReleasedContainer()
 		}
 		// remove preempted resources
 		if alloc.IsPreempted() {
-			app.GetQueue().DecPreemptingResource(alloc.GetAllocatedResource())
+			queue.DecPreemptingResource(alloc.GetAllocatedResource())
 		}
 		if alloc.IsPlaceholder() {
 			pc.decPhAllocationCount(1)
@@ -1251,6 +1254,12 @@ func (pc *PartitionContext) removeAllocation(release *si.AllocationRelease) ([]*
 			zap.Stringer("terminationType", release.TerminationType))
 		return nil, nil
 	}
+	// Processing a removal while in the Completing state could race with the state change.
+	// The race occurs between removing the allocation and updating the queue after node processing.
+	// If the state change removes the queue link before we get to updating the queue after the node we
+	// leave the resources as allocated on the queue. The queue cannot be removed yet at this point as
+	// there are still allocations left. So retrieve the queue early to sidestep the race.
+	queue := app.GetQueue()
 	// temp store for allocations manipulated
 	released := make([]*objects.Allocation, 0)
 	var confirmed *objects.Allocation
@@ -1295,7 +1304,7 @@ func (pc *PartitionContext) removeAllocation(release *si.AllocationRelease) ([]*
 	for _, alloc := range released {
 		node := pc.GetNode(alloc.GetNodeID())
 		if node == nil {
-			log.Log(log.SchedPartition).Info("node not found while releasing allocation",
+			log.Log(log.SchedPartition).Warn("node not found while releasing allocation",
 				zap.String("appID", appID),
 				zap.String("allocationId", alloc.GetUUID()),
 				zap.String("nodeID", alloc.GetNodeID()))
@@ -1342,7 +1351,6 @@ func (pc *PartitionContext) removeAllocation(release *si.AllocationRelease) ([]*
 		}
 	}
 	if resources.StrictlyGreaterThanZero(total) {
-		queue := app.GetQueue()
 		if err := queue.DecAllocatedResource(total); err != nil {
 			log.Log(log.SchedPartition).Warn("failed to release resources from queue",
 				zap.String("appID", appID),
@@ -1353,7 +1361,7 @@ func (pc *PartitionContext) removeAllocation(release *si.AllocationRelease) ([]*
 		}
 	}
 	if resources.StrictlyGreaterThanZero(totalPreempting) {
-		app.GetQueue().DecPreemptingResource(totalPreempting)
+		queue.DecPreemptingResource(totalPreempting)
 	}
 
 	// if confirmed is set we can assume there will just be one alloc in the released