diff --git a/src/core/automount.c b/src/core/automount.c
index 99e80476206..8f88c8daf33 100644
--- a/src/core/automount.c
+++ b/src/core/automount.c
@@ -742,8 +742,9 @@ static void automount_stop_expire(Automount *a) {
         (void) sd_event_source_set_enabled(a->expire_event_source, SD_EVENT_OFF);
 }
 
-static void automount_enter_runnning(Automount *a) {
+static void automount_enter_running(Automount *a) {
         _cleanup_(sd_bus_error_free) sd_bus_error error = SD_BUS_ERROR_NULL;
+        Unit *trigger;
         struct stat st;
         int r;
 
@@ -772,22 +773,24 @@ static void automount_enter_runnning(Automount *a) {
                 goto fail;
         }
 
-        if (!S_ISDIR(st.st_mode) || st.st_dev != a->dev_id)
+        /* The mount unit may have been explicitly started before we got the
+         * autofs request. Ack it to unblock anything waiting on the mount point. */
+        if (!S_ISDIR(st.st_mode) || st.st_dev != a->dev_id) {
                 log_unit_info(UNIT(a), "Automount point already active?");
-        else {
-                Unit *trigger;
+                automount_send_ready(a, a->tokens, 0);
+                return;
+        }
 
-                trigger = UNIT_TRIGGER(UNIT(a));
-                if (!trigger) {
-                        log_unit_error(UNIT(a), "Unit to trigger vanished.");
-                        goto fail;
-                }
+        trigger = UNIT_TRIGGER(UNIT(a));
+        if (!trigger) {
+                log_unit_error(UNIT(a), "Unit to trigger vanished.");
+                goto fail;
+        }
 
-                r = manager_add_job(UNIT(a)->manager, JOB_START, trigger, JOB_REPLACE, &error, NULL);
-                if (r < 0) {
-                        log_unit_warning(UNIT(a), "Failed to queue mount startup job: %s", bus_error_message(&error, r));
-                        goto fail;
-                }
+        r = manager_add_job(UNIT(a)->manager, JOB_START, trigger, JOB_REPLACE, &error, NULL);
+        if (r < 0) {
+                log_unit_warning(UNIT(a), "Failed to queue mount startup job: %s", bus_error_message(&error, r));
+                goto fail;
         }
 
         automount_set_state(a, AUTOMOUNT_RUNNING);
@@ -1012,7 +1015,7 @@ static int automount_dispatch_io(sd_event_source *s, int fd, uint32_t events, vo
                         goto fail;
                 }
 
-                automount_enter_runnning(a);
+                automount_enter_running(a);
                 break;
 
         case autofs_ptype_expire_direct: