diff --git a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/Commons.java b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/Commons.java
index 3282aa81fd..c6221e855f 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/Commons.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/Commons.java
@@ -124,6 +124,11 @@ public static void assertReloadLogStatements(String left, String right, String a
 	 * create a tar, copy it in the running k3s and load this tar as an image.
 	 */
 	public static void loadImage(String image, String tag, String tarName, K3sContainer container) throws Exception {
+
+		if (imageAlreadyInK3s(container, tarName)) {
+			return;
+		}
+
 		// save image
 		try (SaveImageCmd saveImageCmd = container.getDockerClient().saveImageCmd(image)) {
 			InputStream imageStream = saveImageCmd.withTag(tag).exec();
@@ -182,7 +187,7 @@ public static void load(K3sContainer container, String tarName, String imageName
 		try {
 			LOG.info("no tars found, will resort to pulling the image");
 			LOG.info("using : " + imageVersion + " for : " + imageNameForDownload);
-			pullImage(imageNameForDownload, imageVersion, container);
+			pullImage(imageNameForDownload, imageVersion, tarName, container);
 			loadImage(imageNameForDownload, imageVersion, tarName, container);
 		}
 		catch (Exception e) {
@@ -205,7 +210,13 @@ public static void validateImage(String image, K3sContainer container) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	public static void pullImage(String image, String tag, K3sContainer container) throws InterruptedException {
+	public static void pullImage(String image, String tag, String tarName, K3sContainer container)
+			throws InterruptedException {
+
+		if (imageAlreadyInK3s(container, tarName)) {
+			return;
+		}
+
 		try (PullImageCmd pullImageCmd = container.getDockerClient().pullImageCmd(image)) {
 			pullImageCmd.withTag(tag).start().awaitCompletion();
 		}
@@ -265,6 +276,11 @@ private static void loadImageFromPath(String tarName, K3sContainer container) {
 	}
 
 	private static boolean imageAlreadyInK3s(K3sContainer container, String tarName) {
+
+		if (tarName == null) {
+			return false;
+		}
+
 		try {
 			boolean present = container.execInContainer("sh", "-c", "ctr images list | grep " + tarName)
 				.getStdout()
diff --git a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/fabric8_client/Util.java b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/fabric8_client/Util.java
index bc1bfa43b4..8d98a078e0 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/fabric8_client/Util.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/fabric8_client/Util.java
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ public void createAndWait(String namespace, String name, @Nullable Deployment de
 				}
 				else {
 					String[] image = imageFromDeployment.split(":", 2);
-					pullImage(image[0], image[1], container);
+					pullImage(image[0], image[1], name, container);
 					loadImage(image[0], image[1], name, container);
 				}
 
diff --git a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/native_client/Util.java b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/native_client/Util.java
index c9de654263..bb24aa0176 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/native_client/Util.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/native_client/Util.java
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ public void createAndWait(String namespace, String name, V1Deployment deployment
 				}
 				else {
 					String[] image = imageFromDeployment.split(":", 2);
-					pullImage(image[0], image[1], container);
+					pullImage(image[0], image[1], name, container);
 					loadImage(image[0], image[1], name, container);
 				}