diff --git a/akka-cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ShardRegion.scala b/akka-cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ShardRegion.scala
index d137c7f7aa..0936e5acde 100644
--- a/akka-cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ShardRegion.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ShardRegion.scala
@@ -515,12 +515,14 @@ class ShardRegion(
       else {
         sendGracefulShutdownToCoordinator()
         requestShardBufferHomes()
+        tryCompleteGracefulShutdown()
       }
 
     case GracefulShutdown ⇒
       log.debug("Starting graceful shutdown of region and all its shards")
       gracefulShutdownInProgress = true
       sendGracefulShutdownToCoordinator()
+      tryCompleteGracefulShutdown()
 
     case _ ⇒ unhandled(cmd)
   }
@@ -569,8 +571,7 @@ class ShardRegion(
         }
       }
 
-      if (gracefulShutdownInProgress && shards.isEmpty && shardBuffers.isEmpty)
-        context.stop(self) // all shards have been rebalanced, complete graceful shutdown
+      tryCompleteGracefulShutdown()
     }
   }
 
@@ -601,6 +602,10 @@ class ShardRegion(
     })
   }
 
+  private def tryCompleteGracefulShutdown() =
+    if (gracefulShutdownInProgress && shards.isEmpty && shardBuffers.isEmpty)
+      context.stop(self) // all shards have been rebalanced, complete graceful shutdown
+
   def register(): Unit = {
     coordinatorSelection.foreach(_ ! registrationMessage)
     if (shardBuffers.nonEmpty && retryCount >= 5)
diff --git a/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingGracefulShutdownSpec.scala b/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingGracefulShutdownSpec.scala
index b7fb193d1d..f6b9164445 100644
--- a/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingGracefulShutdownSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingGracefulShutdownSpec.scala
@@ -3,28 +3,20 @@
  */
 package akka.cluster.sharding
 
-import scala.collection.immutable
 import java.io.File
-import akka.cluster.sharding.ShardRegion.Passivate
-import scala.concurrent.duration._
-import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils
-import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory
+
 import akka.actor._
 import akka.cluster.Cluster
-import akka.cluster.ClusterEvent._
+import akka.cluster.sharding.ShardRegion.GracefulShutdown
 import akka.persistence.Persistence
-import akka.persistence.journal.leveldb.SharedLeveldbJournal
-import akka.persistence.journal.leveldb.SharedLeveldbStore
+import akka.persistence.journal.leveldb.{SharedLeveldbJournal, SharedLeveldbStore}
 import akka.remote.testconductor.RoleName
-import akka.remote.testkit.MultiNodeConfig
-import akka.remote.testkit.MultiNodeSpec
-import akka.remote.testkit.STMultiNodeSpec
-import akka.remote.transport.ThrottlerTransportAdapter.Direction
+import akka.remote.testkit.{MultiNodeConfig, MultiNodeSpec, STMultiNodeSpec}
 import akka.testkit._
-import akka.cluster.sharding.ShardCoordinator.ShardAllocationStrategy
-import scala.concurrent.Future
-import akka.util.Timeout
-import akka.pattern.ask
+import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory
+import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils
+
+import scala.concurrent.duration._
 
 object ClusterShardingGracefulShutdownSpec {
   case object StopEntity
@@ -204,6 +196,24 @@ abstract class ClusterShardingGracefulShutdownSpec(config: ClusterShardingGracef
       enterBarrier("after-3")
     }
 
+    "gracefully shutdown empty region" in within(30.seconds) {
+      runOn(first) {
+        val allocationStrategy = new ShardCoordinator.LeastShardAllocationStrategy(rebalanceThreshold = 2, maxSimultaneousRebalance = 1)
+        val regionEmpty = ClusterSharding(system).start(
+          typeName = "EntityEmpty",
+          entityProps = Props[Entity],
+          settings = ClusterShardingSettings(system),
+          extractEntityId = extractEntityId,
+          extractShardId = extractShardId,
+          allocationStrategy,
+          handOffStopMessage = StopEntity)
+
+        watch(regionEmpty)
+        regionEmpty ! GracefulShutdown
+        expectTerminated(regionEmpty, 5.seconds)
+      }
+    }
+
   }
 }