diff --git a/modules/transport-netty4/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4IncrementalRequestHandlingIT.java b/modules/transport-netty4/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4IncrementalRequestHandlingIT.java
index 1143e7b67f77a..71fbfd5f2478a 100644
--- a/modules/transport-netty4/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4IncrementalRequestHandlingIT.java
+++ b/modules/transport-netty4/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4IncrementalRequestHandlingIT.java
@@ -34,9 +34,6 @@
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpUtil;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.LastHttpContent;
-import io.netty.handler.logging.ByteBufFormat;
-import io.netty.handler.logging.LogLevel;
-import io.netty.handler.logging.LoggingHandler;
 import io.netty.handler.stream.ChunkedStream;
 import io.netty.handler.stream.ChunkedWriteHandler;
 
@@ -49,7 +46,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.action.support.SubscribableListener;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.internal.node.NodeClient;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNodes;
-import org.elasticsearch.cluster.service.ClusterService;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.ReleasableBytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.Iterators;
@@ -77,7 +73,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ClusterServiceUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESIntegTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.MockLog;
-import org.elasticsearch.test.junit.annotations.TestIssueLogging;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.junit.annotations.TestLogging;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.rest.ObjectPath;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.Transports;
@@ -528,13 +523,8 @@ private void assertHttpBodyLogging(Consumer<ClientContext> test) throws Exceptio
         }
     }
 
-    @TestIssueLogging(
-        issueUrl = "https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/144579",
-        value = "org.elasticsearch.http.netty4.Netty4IncrementalRequestHandlingIT:DEBUG"
-            + ",org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService.tracer:TRACE"
-    )
     public void testBulkIndexingRequestSplitting() throws Exception {
-        final var watermarkBytes = between(100, 200);
+        final var watermarkBytes = between(100, 2000);
         final var tinyNode = internalCluster().startCoordinatingOnlyNode(
             Settings.builder()
                 .put(IndexingPressure.SPLIT_BULK_LOW_WATERMARK.getKey(), ByteSizeValue.ofBytes(watermarkBytes))
@@ -551,14 +541,6 @@ public void testBulkIndexingRequestSplitting() throws Exception {
             channel.writeAndFlush(request);
 
             final var indexName = randomIndexName();
-            final var clusterStateLoggingListener = ClusterServiceUtils.addTemporaryStateListener(
-                internalCluster().getCurrentMasterNodeInstance(ClusterService.class),
-                cs -> {
-                    logger.info("cluster state: {}", cs);
-                    return false;
-                },
-                TimeValue.ONE_HOUR
-            );
             final var indexCreatedListener = ClusterServiceUtils.addTemporaryStateListener(
                 cs -> Iterators.filter(
                     cs.metadata().indicesAllProjects().iterator(),
@@ -570,24 +552,28 @@ public void testBulkIndexingRequestSplitting() throws Exception {
 
             final var valueLength = between(10, 30);
             final var docSizeBytes = "{'field':''}".length() + valueLength;
-            final var itemCount = between(watermarkBytes / docSizeBytes + 1, 300); // enough to split at least once
+            final var minItemCount = watermarkBytes / docSizeBytes + 1;
+            final var itemCount = between(minItemCount, minItemCount * 2); // enough to split at least once
             assertThat(itemCount * docSizeBytes, greaterThan(watermarkBytes));
             for (int i = 0; i < itemCount; i++) {
                 channel.write(new DefaultHttpContent(Unpooled.wrappedBuffer(Strings.format("""
                     {"index":{"_index":"%s"}}
                     {"field":"%s"}
                     """, indexName, randomAlphaOfLength(valueLength)).getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8))));
+
+                if (i == minItemCount && randomBoolean()) {
+                    channel.flush();
+                    if (randomBoolean()) {
+                        safeAwait(indexCreatedListener);
+                    }
+                }
             }
 
             channel.flush();
             safeAwait(indexCreatedListener); // index must be created before we finish sending the request
 
-            logger.info("--> completing request");
             channel.writeAndFlush(new DefaultLastHttpContent());
-            logger.info("--> awaiting response");
             final var response = clientContext.getNextResponse();
-            logger.info("--> received response");
-            clusterStateLoggingListener.onResponse(null);
             try {
                 assertEquals(RestStatus.OK.getStatus(), response.status().code());
                 final ObjectPath responseBody;
@@ -667,9 +653,6 @@ private ClientContext newClientContext(String nodeName, Consumer<Throwable> exce
                 @Override
                 protected void initChannel(SocketChannel ch) {
                     var p = ch.pipeline();
-                    if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
-                        p.addLast(new LoggingHandler(Netty4IncrementalRequestHandlingIT.class, LogLevel.DEBUG, ByteBufFormat.HEX_DUMP));
-                    }
                     p.addLast(new HttpClientCodec());
                     p.addLast(new HttpObjectAggregator(ByteSizeUnit.MB.toIntBytes(4)));
                     p.addLast(new SimpleChannelInboundHandler<FullHttpResponse>() {