diff --git a/internal/component/loki/process/stages/multiline.go b/internal/component/loki/process/stages/multiline.go
index 429694ac838..a3c09a5c617 100644
--- a/internal/component/loki/process/stages/multiline.go
+++ b/internal/component/loki/process/stages/multiline.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"regexp"
+	"slices"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
@@ -12,7 +13,9 @@ import (
 	"github.com/go-kit/log"
 	"github.com/prometheus/common/model"
 
+	"github.com/grafana/alloy/internal/component/common/loki"
 	"github.com/grafana/alloy/internal/runtime/logging/level"
+	"github.com/grafana/loki/pkg/push"
 )
 
 // Configuration errors.
@@ -78,9 +81,9 @@ type multilineState struct {
 }
 
 func (s *multilineState) Reset() {
+	// We don't reset startLineEntry here to keep old behaviour.
 	s.buffer.Reset()
 	s.currentLines = 0
-	s.startLineEntry = Entry{}
 }
 
 // newMultilineStage creates a MulitlineStage from config
@@ -193,11 +196,23 @@ func (m *multilineStage) flush(out chan Entry, s *multilineState) {
 		return
 	}
 
-	entry := s.startLineEntry
-	entry.Line = s.buffer.String()
+	// copy extracted data.
+	extracted := make(map[string]any, len(s.startLineEntry.Extracted))
+	for k, v := range s.startLineEntry.Extracted {
+		extracted[k] = v
+	}
+	collapsed := Entry{
+		Extracted: extracted,
+		Entry: loki.NewEntryWithCreatedUnixMicro(s.startLineEntry.Entry.Labels.Clone(), s.startLineEntry.Created(), push.Entry{
+			Timestamp:          s.startLineEntry.Entry.Entry.Timestamp,
+			Line:               s.buffer.String(),
+			StructuredMetadata: slices.Clone(s.startLineEntry.Entry.Entry.StructuredMetadata),
+		}),
+	}
 
 	s.Reset()
-	out <- entry
+
+	out <- collapsed
 }
 
 // Cleanup implements Stage.
diff --git a/internal/component/loki/process/stages/multiline_test.go b/internal/component/loki/process/stages/multiline_test.go
index eac42aa1310..58a53e5c73d 100644
--- a/internal/component/loki/process/stages/multiline_test.go
+++ b/internal/component/loki/process/stages/multiline_test.go
@@ -6,16 +6,15 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/go-kit/log"
 	"github.com/grafana/loki/pkg/push"
 	"github.com/prometheus/common/model"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/alloy/internal/component/common/loki"
-	"github.com/grafana/alloy/internal/util"
 )
 
 func TestMultilineStageProcess(t *testing.T) {
-	logger := util.TestAlloyLogger(t)
 	mcfg := MultilineConfig{Expression: "^START", MaxWaitTime: 3 * time.Second, TrimNewlines: true}
 	regex, err := validateMultilineConfig(mcfg)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
@@ -23,7 +22,7 @@ func TestMultilineStageProcess(t *testing.T) {
 	stage := &multilineStage{
 		cfg:    mcfg,
 		regex:  regex,
-		logger: logger,
+		logger: log.NewNopLogger(),
 	}
 
 	out := processEntries(stage,
@@ -43,7 +42,6 @@ func TestMultilineStageProcess(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestMultilineStageMultiStreams(t *testing.T) {
-	logger := util.TestAlloyLogger(t)
 	mcfg := MultilineConfig{Expression: "^START", MaxWaitTime: 3 * time.Second, TrimNewlines: true}
 	regex, err := validateMultilineConfig(mcfg)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
@@ -51,7 +49,7 @@ func TestMultilineStageMultiStreams(t *testing.T) {
 	stage := &multilineStage{
 		cfg:    mcfg,
 		regex:  regex,
-		logger: logger,
+		logger: log.NewNopLogger(),
 	}
 
 	out := processEntries(stage,
@@ -84,7 +82,6 @@ func TestMultilineStageMultiStreams(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestMultilineStageProcessLeaveNewlines(t *testing.T) {
-	logger := util.TestAlloyLogger(t)
 	mcfg := MultilineConfig{Expression: "^START", MaxWaitTime: 3 * time.Second, TrimNewlines: false}
 	regex, err := validateMultilineConfig(mcfg)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
@@ -92,7 +89,7 @@ func TestMultilineStageProcessLeaveNewlines(t *testing.T) {
 	stage := &multilineStage{
 		cfg:    mcfg,
 		regex:  regex,
-		logger: logger,
+		logger: log.NewNopLogger(),
 	}
 
 	out := processEntries(stage,
@@ -112,7 +109,6 @@ func TestMultilineStageProcessLeaveNewlines(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestMultilineStageMaxWaitTime(t *testing.T) {
-	logger := util.TestAlloyLogger(t)
 	mcfg := MultilineConfig{Expression: "^START", MaxWaitTime: 100 * time.Millisecond, TrimNewlines: true}
 	regex, err := validateMultilineConfig(mcfg)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
@@ -120,7 +116,7 @@ func TestMultilineStageMaxWaitTime(t *testing.T) {
 	stage := &multilineStage{
 		cfg:    mcfg,
 		regex:  regex,
-		logger: logger,
+		logger: log.NewNopLogger(),
 	}
 
 	in := make(chan Entry, 2)
@@ -156,6 +152,50 @@ func TestMultilineStageMaxWaitTime(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, "not a start line hitting timeout", res[1].Line)
 }
 
+func TestMultilineStageStartLineFlushedBeforeNew(t *testing.T) {
+	mcfg := MultilineConfig{
+		Expression:   "^START",
+		MaxLines:     2,
+		MaxWaitTime:  3 * time.Second,
+		TrimNewlines: true,
+	}
+	regex, err := validateMultilineConfig(mcfg)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	stage := &multilineStage{
+		cfg:    mcfg,
+		regex:  regex,
+		logger: log.NewNopLogger(),
+	}
+
+	startTs := time.Now()
+	lset := model.LabelSet{"value": "label"}
+
+	out := processEntries(stage,
+		Entry{
+			Extracted: map[string]any{},
+			Entry:     loki.NewEntry(lset.Clone(), push.Entry{Timestamp: startTs, Line: "START line 1"}),
+		},
+		Entry{
+			Extracted: map[string]any{},
+			Entry:     loki.NewEntry(lset.Clone(), push.Entry{Timestamp: startTs.Add(1 * time.Second), Line: "continuation line 1"}),
+		},
+		Entry{
+			Extracted: map[string]any{},
+			Entry:     loki.NewEntry(lset.Clone(), push.Entry{Timestamp: startTs.Add(2 * time.Second), Line: "continuation line 2"}),
+		},
+	)
+
+	require.Len(t, out, 2)
+	require.Equal(t, lset, out[0].Labels)
+	require.Equal(t, startTs, out[0].Timestamp)
+	require.Equal(t, "START line 1\ncontinuation line 1", out[0].Line)
+
+	require.Equal(t, lset, out[1].Labels)
+	require.Equal(t, startTs, out[1].Timestamp)
+	require.Equal(t, "continuation line 2", out[1].Line)
+}
+
 func simpleEntry(line, label string) Entry {
 	// We're adding a small wait time here, because on Windows, timers have a
 	// smaller resolution than on Linux. This can mess with the ordering of log
@@ -174,7 +214,6 @@ func simpleEntry(line, label string) Entry {
 }
 
 func TestMultilineStageKeepingStructuredMetadata(t *testing.T) {
-	logger := util.TestAlloyLogger(t)
 	mcfg := MultilineConfig{Expression: "^START", MaxWaitTime: 3 * time.Second, TrimNewlines: true}
 	regex, err := validateMultilineConfig(mcfg)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
@@ -182,7 +221,7 @@ func TestMultilineStageKeepingStructuredMetadata(t *testing.T) {
 	stage := &multilineStage{
 		cfg:    mcfg,
 		regex:  regex,
-		logger: logger,
+		logger: log.NewNopLogger(),
 	}
 
 	line1 := Entry{