diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/scheduler/sched_main.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/scheduler/sched_main.c
index 9a0ee74d82dc..d4cc7289147e 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/scheduler/sched_main.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/scheduler/sched_main.c
@@ -622,43 +622,41 @@ static void drm_sched_process_job(struct dma_fence *f, struct dma_fence_cb *cb)
 }
 
 /**
- * drm_sched_cleanup_jobs - destroy finished jobs
+ * drm_sched_get_cleanup_job - fetch the next finished job to be destroyed
  *
  * @sched: scheduler instance
  *
- * Remove all finished jobs from the mirror list and destroy them.
+ * Returns the next finished job from the mirror list (if there is one)
+ * ready for it to be destroyed.
  */
-static void drm_sched_cleanup_jobs(struct drm_gpu_scheduler *sched)
+static struct drm_sched_job *
+drm_sched_get_cleanup_job(struct drm_gpu_scheduler *sched)
 {
+	struct drm_sched_job *job;
 	unsigned long flags;
 
 	/* Don't destroy jobs while the timeout worker is running */
 	if (sched->timeout != MAX_SCHEDULE_TIMEOUT &&
 	    !cancel_delayed_work(&sched->work_tdr))
-		return;
+		return NULL;
 
+	spin_lock_irqsave(&sched->job_list_lock, flags);
 
-	while (!list_empty(&sched->ring_mirror_list)) {
-		struct drm_sched_job *job;
-
-		job = list_first_entry(&sched->ring_mirror_list,
+	job = list_first_entry_or_null(&sched->ring_mirror_list,
 				       struct drm_sched_job, node);
-		if (!dma_fence_is_signaled(&job->s_fence->finished))
-			break;
 
-		spin_lock_irqsave(&sched->job_list_lock, flags);
+	if (job && dma_fence_is_signaled(&job->s_fence->finished)) {
 		/* remove job from ring_mirror_list */
 		list_del_init(&job->node);
-		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&sched->job_list_lock, flags);
-
-		sched->ops->free_job(job);
+	} else {
+		job = NULL;
+		/* queue timeout for next job */
+		drm_sched_start_timeout(sched);
 	}
 
-	/* queue timeout for next job */
-	spin_lock_irqsave(&sched->job_list_lock, flags);
-	drm_sched_start_timeout(sched);
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&sched->job_list_lock, flags);
 
+	return job;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -698,12 +696,19 @@ static int drm_sched_main(void *param)
 		struct drm_sched_fence *s_fence;
 		struct drm_sched_job *sched_job;
 		struct dma_fence *fence;
+		struct drm_sched_job *cleanup_job = NULL;
 
 		wait_event_interruptible(sched->wake_up_worker,
-					 (drm_sched_cleanup_jobs(sched),
+					 (cleanup_job = drm_sched_get_cleanup_job(sched)) ||
 					 (!drm_sched_blocked(sched) &&
 					  (entity = drm_sched_select_entity(sched))) ||
-					 kthread_should_stop()));
+					 kthread_should_stop());
+
+		if (cleanup_job) {
+			sched->ops->free_job(cleanup_job);
+			/* queue timeout for next job */
+			drm_sched_start_timeout(sched);
+		}
 
 		if (!entity)
 			continue;